Page:Maud, and other poems.djvu/137

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She told me all her friends had said; I raged against the public liar; She talk'd as if her love were dead, But in my words were seeds of fire. 'No more of love; your sex is known: I never will be twice deceived. Henceforth I trust the man alone, The woman cannot be believed.

'Thro' slander, meanest spawn of Hell (And women's slander is the worst), And you, whom once I loved so well, Thro' you, my life will be accurst.' I spoke with heart, and heat and force, I shook her breast with vague alarms— Like torrents from a mountain source We rush'd into each other's arms.