In Memoriam (Tennyson)/Canto 60

by Alfred Tennyson

lx.

Tho' if an eye that's downward cast
⁠Could make thee somewhat blench or fail,
⁠So be my love an idle tale,
And fading legend of the past;

And thou, as one that once declined,
⁠When he was little more than boy,
⁠On some unworthy heart with joy,
But lives to wed an equal mind;

And breathes a novel world, the while
⁠His other passion wholly dies,
⁠Or in the light of deeper eyes
Is matter for a flying smile.