Plea
Dorothy Parker’s poem “Plea” was published in 1926 in her first collection of verse, “Enough Rope”.
Dorothy Parker was born on 22 August 1893 in Long Branch, New Jersey, US, and she died on 7 June 1967 in New York City, US, at the age of 73.A poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York, Parker was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. She rose to acclaim both for her literary works, published in magazines such as “The New Yorker”, and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting.
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Secrets, you said, would hold us two apart; You’d have me know of you your least transgression, And so the intimate places of your heart, Kneeling, you bared to me, as in confession. Softly you told of loves that went before — Of clinging arms, of kisses gladly given; Luxuriously clean of heart once more, You rose up, then, and stood before me, shriven.
When this, my day of happiness, is through, And love, that bloomed so fair, turns brown and brittle, There is a thing that I shall ask of you — I, who have given so much, and asked so little. Some day, when there’s another in my stead, Again you’ll feel the need of absolution, And you will go to her, and bow your head, And offer her your past, as contribution.
When with your list of loves you overcome her, For Heaven’s sake, keep this one secret from her!