"Hate"



Hate



If hate be unforgivable,
        Then must I unforgiven be,
For I shall hate one woman, Lord,
        For all eternity.

Forgiven or not, I hate her so
        That did she, burnt with fever, lie,
I’d spill the ice-up that she craved
        And laugh to see her die.

Yes, Lord, yea, Lord—I hate her so
        That, were she sent to deepest hell,
I’d pray the awful fires might do
        Their part slow—slow—and well.



A draft of "Hate" on onionskin paper with its original title "Cleopatra", courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA.



"Hate" appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898). This poem was inspired by a theatrical performance Ella Higginson attended in Chicago and remains the only poem she ever wrote that received a thoroughly negative review. One reader thought Ella Higginson was writing about a woman in Whatcom County, WA that she must have despised so bitterly and published some harsh criticism of Higginson in The Washington Standard. To read the full story, click here.

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