Retribution

How I did hold in deep contempt
   The slaves and queens of love! 
How I disguised my feelings when 
    I met a deer or a dove! 
How I did smile and sniff and rail 
    At lovers young and old; 
How I denied, in days gone by, 
    O love, thy charms untold! 
But now, alas! I find myself 
    In chains at Beauty's shrine: 
The chains whose power I have denied
   Are sapping, sapping mine.