Page:An epic of women and other poems (IA epicofwomenother00osha).pdf/142

 Just to draw near, some silent hour, alone, Unheralded, unwelcomed, and behold Her husband and remember him her own, And be quite near him only as of old:

And perchance, for some grief that was exprest Plainly upon his face, she might have dared To enter in, and after all been blest Some remnant of his pity to have shared.

—Alas, too surely, for long years, all thought And love of her had perished from his heart; Until on all her memory were wrought Dishonour, and with him she had no part;

—And this the while, so held of alien joys, She spared no thought for him and for his pain, Nor fancied the least echo of his voice Sent forth a thousand times to her in vain;

When, might-be many a time, his earnest grief Sent it so truly seeking her quite near, Vainly it fell on some dumb flower or leaf Beside her, never cherished in her ear.