Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Promises Like Pie-Crust 1896

Promise me no promises,

So will I not promise you;

Keep we both our liberties,

Never false and never true:

Let us hold the die uncast, 5

Free to come as free to go;

For I cannot know your past,

And of mine what can you know?

You, so warm, may once have been

Warmer towards another one; 10

I, so cold, may once have seen

Sunlight, once have felt the sun:

Who shall show us if it was

Thus indeed in time of old?

Fades the image from the glass 15

And the fortune is not told.

If you promised, you might grieve

For lost liberty again;

If I promised, I believe

I should fret to break the chain: 20

Let us be the friends we were,

Nothing more but nothing less;

Many thrive on frugal fare

Who would perish of excess.