The Price He Paid by Ella Wheeler Wilcox — Stanza

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The Price He Paid

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I said I would have my fling,

And do what a young man may;

And I didn't believe a thing

That the parsons have to say.

I didn't believe in a God

That gives us blood like fire,

Then flings us into hell because

We answer the call of desire.

And I said: 'Religion is rot,

And the laws of the world are nil;

For the bad man is he who is caught

And cannot foot his bill.

And there is no place called hell;

And heaven is only a truth

When a man has his way with a maid,

In the fresh keen hour of youth.

'And money can buy us grace,

If it rings on the plate of the church:

And money can neatly erase

Each sign of a sinful smirch.'

For I saw men everywhere,

Hotfooting the road of vice;

And women and preachers smiled on them

As long as they paid the price.

So I had my joy of life:

I went the pace of the town;

And then I took me a wife,

And started to settle down.

I had gold enough and to spare

For all of the simple joys

That belong with a house and a home

And a brood of girls and boys.

I married a girl with health

And virtue and spotless fame.

I gave in exchange my wealth

And a proud old family name.

And I gave her the love of a heart

Grown sated and sick of sin!

My deal with the devil was all cleaned up,

And the last bill handed in.

She was going to bring me a child,

And when in labour she cried

With love and fear I was wild -

But now I wish she had died.

For the son she bore me was blind

And crippled and weak and sore!

And his mother was left a wreck.

It was so she settled my score.

I said I must have my fling,

And they knew the path I would go;

Yet no one told me a thing

Of what I needed to know.

Folks talk too much of a soul

From heavenly joys debarred -

And not enough of the babes unborn,

By the sins of their fathers scarred.