Amour de Voyage

And I was a man who could write you rhyme
 * (Oust so much for you&mdash;nothing more),

And you were the woman I loved for a time&mdash;
 * Loved for a little, and nothing more.

We shall go our ways when the voyage is o'er,
 * You with your beauty and I with my rhymes,

With a dim remembrance rising at time
 * (Only a memory, nothing more)

Of a lovely face and some worthless rhymes.

Meantime till our comedy reaches its end
 * (Its comic ending, and nothing more)

I shall live as your lover who loved as a friend&mdash;
 * Shall swear true love till Life be o'er.

And you, you must make believe and attend,
 * As the steamer throbs from shore to shore.

And so, we shall pass the time for a little,
 * (Pass it in pleasure, and nothing more),

For vows, alas! are sadly brittle;
 * And each may forget the oaths that we swore.

And have we not loved for an age, an age?
 * And was I not yours from shore to shore?

From landing-stage to landing-stage
 * Did I not worship and kneel and adore?

And what is a month in love but an age?
 * And who in their senses would wish for more?