English poem
Browning'S Rejected Lovers
by William Lyon Phelps (1865–1943)
THE LOST MISTRESS 1845
All's over, then; does truth sound bitter As one at first believes? Hark, 'tis the sparrows' good-night twitter About your cottage eaves!
And the leaf-buds on the vine are woolly, I noticed that, to-day; One day more bursts them open fully --You know the red turns gray.
To-morrow we meet the same then, dearest? May I take your hand in mine? Mere friends are we,--well, friends the merest Keep much that I resign:
For each glance of the eye so bright and black Though I keep with heart's endeavour,-- Your voice, when you wish the snowdrops back, Though it stay in my soul forever!--
Yet I will but say what mere friends say, Or only a thought stronger; I will hold your hand but as long as all may, Or so very little longer!
ONE WAY OF LOVE 1855