NO, THANK YOU, JOHN by CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

NEVER said I loved you, John:
Why will you tease me day by day,
And wax a weariness to think upon
With always “do” and “pray”?

You know I never loved you, John;
No fault of mine made me your toast:
Why will you haunt me with a face as wan
As shows an hour-old ghost?

I dare say Meg or Moll would take
Pity upon you, if you’d ask:
And pray don’t remain single for my sake
Who can’t perform that task.

I have no heart?—Perhaps I have not;
But then you’re mad to take offence
That I don’t give you what I have not got:
Use your own common sense.

Let bygones be bygones:
Don’t call me false, who owed not to be true:
I’d rather answer “No,” to fifty Johns
Than answer “Yes,” to you.

Let’s mar our pleasant days no more,
Song-birds of passage, days of youth:
Catch at to-day, forget the days before:
I’ll wink at your untruth.

Let us strike hands as hearty friends;
No more, no less; and friendship’s good:
Only don’t keep in view ulterior ends,
And points not understood

In open treaty. Rise above
Quibbles and shuffling off and on:
Here’s friendship for you if you like; but love,—
No, thank you, John.

Λίγα λόγια για το ποίημα

Στο ποίημα «No, Thank You, John», η Christina Rossetti δίνει φωνή σε μια γυναίκα που αρνείται να υποκύψει στην επίμονη ερωτική διεκδίκηση. Με χιούμορ και ειρωνεία, η Αγγλίδα ποιήτρια υπερασπίζεται τη γυναικεία αυτονομία και το δικαίωμα στο «όχι». Ένα ποίημα της βικτωριανής εποχής για τη συναίνεση, την ελευθερία επιλογής και τις έμφυλες σχέσεις.