Dorothy Parker, The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker

"A Very Short Song Once, when I was young and true, Someone left me sad- Broke my brittle heart in two; And that is very bad. Love is for unlucky folk, Love is but a curse. Once there was a heart I broke; And that, I think, is worse."

"If wild my breast and sore my pride,I bask in dreams of suicide,If cool my heart and high my head I think 'How lucky are the dead."

"ur be the things I am wiser to know:Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe. Four be the things I'd been better without:Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt. Three be the things I shall never attain:Envy, content, and sufficient champagne. Three be the things I shall have till I die:Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye."

"In youth, it was a way I had,To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do,And if you do not like me so,To hell, my love, with you."