Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/236

 "Do I cling to shadows when I call you Life? Do you love me still, or are the shadows all? Or is it I that love you in the grave, And you that mourn for me? "If it be that, then do not mourn for me; Be glad that I have loved you, and be King. But if it be not that if it be true. . . Tell me if it be true!" Then with a choking answer the King spoke; But never touched his hand on hers, or fixed His eyes on hers, or on the face of her : "Yes, it is true," he said. "You are alive, and you are with me now; And you are reaching up to me that I That I may take you I that am a King I that was once a man." So then she knew. She might have known before; Truly, she thought, she must have known it long Before: she must have known it when she came From that great sleep of hers. She knew the truth, but not yet all of it : He loved her, but he would not let his eyes Prove that he loved her ; and he would not hold His wife there in his arms. So, like a slave, she waited at his knees, And waited. She was not unhappy now. She quivered, but she knew that he would speak Again and he did speak.