A SECRET, a poem

MY laddie 's a' the world to me!
     'T is to himself I owe it
That I can never more gae free;
     But, ah!—he must not know it!

When from my side he roams awa',
     I scarce believe I'm living;
But when he's here—my laddie!—ah,
     I die for want of giving!

Why must I think upon his smile?—
     His eyes o'er bright and bonny?—
His gladness that doth sae beguile
     It robs my heart of ony?

Were I a lad, and he a maid,
     I would na be sae winning;
To wound too deep I'd be afraid,
     And deem such sweetness sinning!

"A Secret" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in Harper's Magazine (November 1913) and Poems (1916) Volume II.