Poem by Henry Van Dyke

Without Disguise

If I have erred in showing all my heart, 
And lost your favour by a lack of pride;
If standing like a beggar at your side 
With naked feet, I have forgot the art
Of those who bargain well in passion’s mart,
And win the thing they want by what they hide;
Be mine the fault as mine the hope denied, 
Be mine the lover’s and the loser’s part. 

The sin, if sin it was, I do repent,
And take the penance on myself alone;
Yet after I have borne the punishment,
I shall not fear to stand before the throne
Of Love with open heart, and make this plea:
”At least I have not lied to her nor Thee!”

1. To Julia Marlowe
2. Autumn in the Garden
3. Edmund Clarence Stedman
4. The Heavenly Hills of Holland
5. If All the Skies

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