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Before she smiled and said: “We are the slaves,
Not you. Not even when most we are in power
Are women else than slaves to men they honor.
Men worthy of their reverence know this well,
And honor them sometimes to humor them.
We are their slaves and their impediments,
And there is much in us to be forgiven.”
Not you. Not even when most we are in power
Are women else than slaves to men they honor.
Men worthy of their reverence know this well,
And honor them sometimes to humor them.
We are their slaves and their impediments,
And there is much in us to be forgiven.”
He drew the fringes of her cloak together,
Smiling as one who suffers to escape
Through silence to familiar misery.
“Madam, I fear that you are taking cold,”
He said. “Say to the King that I’m not well.”
She laughed, and having mounted a few steps
Paused and looked down at him inscrutably:
“‘An error that apology too soon
May qualify too late?’ Was it like that?
England is not so large as the wide sky
That holds the stars, and we may meet again.
Good night, Sir Tristram, Prince of Lyonesse.”
Smiling as one who suffers to escape
Through silence to familiar misery.
“Madam, I fear that you are taking cold,”
He said. “Say to the King that I’m not well.”
She laughed, and having mounted a few steps
Paused and looked down at him inscrutably:
“‘An error that apology too soon
May qualify too late?’ Was it like that?
England is not so large as the wide sky
That holds the stars, and we may meet again.
Good night, Sir Tristram, Prince of Lyonesse.”
III
Lost in a gulf of time where time was lost,
And heedless of a light queen’s light last words
That were to be remembered, he saw now
And heedless of a light queen’s light last words
That were to be remembered, he saw now
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