Traits of Friendship 


︎︎︎ Nicola Maye Goldberg

︎ Oct 28, 2024

I cannot taste 
his
heart
tender and confidential

a mode of self-torment
turning chalky white

I’m ruined
gloomy, abstracted
like a skeleton at a feast

nothing to forgive
my angel

I
will make a very  good wife






This poem takes its title from one of the chapters of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The words in the poem are from that same chapter. The poem follows the order of the text (i.e., the words and phrases have not been rearranged). The punctuation and capitalization are the same as they appear within the book.









Nicola Maye Goldberg is the author of Nothing Can Hurt You. She lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University.

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