Countee Cullen, " A Song No Gentleman Would Sing to Any Lady" (1927)
Had you not pedagogued me so;
And these I thank you for,
Now never shall a piquant face
Cause my tutored heart a trace
Of anguish any more.
Before your pleasure made me wise,
A simulacrum of disguise
Masked the serpent and the dove;
That I discern now hiss from coo,
My heart's full gratitude to you,
Lady I had learned to love.
Before I knew love well I sang
Many a polished pain and pang,
With proper bardic zeal;
But now I know hearts do not break
So easily, and though a snake
Has made them wounds may heal.
Published in Ebony and Topaz, 1927