I Couldn’t Know Someone Less

[Jerusha Abbott]
It's been nearly two months now
Since I wrote you last
You can't imagine my regret
Still, it wasn't nice not to write

I won't see Sallie in the summer
I know you must have had your reasons
I know you didn't mean to hurt me, Daddy

I don't know why you behave as you do
Just a line on a card that denotes
Where you have ordered me to
You don't try to imply there's a why
I wouldn't venture a guess
I couldn't know someone less

I've imagined you so many ways
You are kind, you are tall, you are old
But in all those pondering days
I'd not imagined you heartless and cold
I thought you cared, I confess
I couldn't know someone less

And I'm here on a farm in the country
Sleep in a wooden bed
Mrs Semple is really quite simple
Sees that the cows are fed
Tomorrow we may paint the barn
A different shade of red!
There's an ice cream social at the school house
I wish I were dead!

If I could travel to places in books
I could see with my eyes
How Milton's heaven looks
But I'm here watching days slip away
Adrift in my own discontent
Though you've shown me kindness
And changed my life, I must confess
Why would you set me free only to imprison me?
I couldn't know someone less