The poem
Promise me no promises, So will I not promise you: Keep we both our liberties, Never false and never true: Let us hold the die uncast, Free to come as free to go: For I cannot know your past, And of mine what can you know?
You, so warm, may once have been Warmer towards another one: I, so cold, may once have seen Sunlight, once have felt the sun: Who shall show us if it was Thus indeed in time of old? Fades the image from the glass, And the fortune is not told.
If you promised, you might grieve For lost liberty again: If I promised, I believe I should fret to break the chain. Let us be the friends we were, Nothing more but nothing less: Many thrive on frugal fare Who would perish of excess.
Christina seems to be mocking, gently reprimanding those lovers who take extreme caution in making promises - lest they tie them down. How lonely are those who, satisfied in their freedom, never take a chance on making a promise. Friendships that could have been more, but never became...
The speaker in the poem has become bitter from the experience of love and does not wish to have a relationship with her friend - who has a similar history. The resolution is that another person needs to remind them what it is to be warm again before that way of life fades and they forget. They resolve to be friends because they know that they cannot grow and learn from one another simply because they are not right for eachother.
Promises like pie crust - the title
The title, “Promises Like Pie Crust” instantly makes me think that whatever this promise is, it is flaky, it doesn’t last and it is not good for you. This gives the impression that the poem is not about actual pie but it is a metaphor maybe for a promise to a person, a promise that was broken and like pie, can never be can never be replaced on that pie again.