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Rh I weep, but null is Fate’s decree— Such tears fall not so bitterly.

I saw a woman once undo and then peruse Old letters with hard eyes; through such disguise I pierced and knew her weeping. ‘And such he was,’ she said. ‘Whose is the failing That love is paling? which is the soul that’s sleeping?’ His step; and quick the letters put in hiding: They meet with cold eyes chiding. If I were such as she, Oh, death were well for me!

I saw a man’s gray eyes fill up, and overfull Let fall two sparkling tears, as one who fears; Draw forth a curling braid of woman’s hair, Lay it across his lips with swift caressing. His love confessing: ‘My sweet beyond compare, Whose fault we love to-day and hate to-morrow?’ Her voice: he hides his sorrow, And meets her bitterly; And oh, if thou wert he!

I saw two children wondering, hand in hand. Sit dumb beside their hearth, as if their mirth Were stricken by some fear past understanding; Find in their parents’ eyes with silent reading The old degrading truth beyond commanding—