48
A REJECTED LOVER.
A REJECTED LOVER.
OU "never loved me," Ada. These slow words,Dropped softly from your gentle woman-tongue
Out of your true and kindly woman-heart,
Fell, piercing into mine like very swords
The sharper for their kindness. Yet no wrong
Lies to your charge, nor cruelty, nor art,—
Ev'n while you spoke, I saw the tender tear-drop start.
You "never loved me." No, you never knew,
You, with youth's morning fresh upon your soul,
What 't is to love: slow, drop by drop, to pour
Our life's whole essence, perfumed through and through
With all the best we have or can control
For the libation—cast it down before
Your feet—then lift the goblet, dry for evermore.
You, with youth's morning fresh upon your soul,
What 't is to love: slow, drop by drop, to pour
Our life's whole essence, perfumed through and through
With all the best we have or can control
For the libation—cast it down before
Your feet—then lift the goblet, dry for evermore.
I shall not die as foolish lovers do:
A man's heart beats beneath this breast of mine,
The breast where—Curse on that fiend-whispering
A man's heart beats beneath this breast of mine,
The breast where—Curse on that fiend-whispering
