Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/218

 He fainted in his heart, whereon He rose, and sought his plighted one, Resolved to loose her bond withal, Lest she should perish in his fall.

He met her with a careless air, As though he'd ceased to find her fair, And said: “True love is dust to me; I cannot kiss: I tire of thee!"

(That she might scorn him was he fain, To put her sooner out of pain; For incensed love breathes quick and dies, When famished love a-lingering lies.)

Once done, his soul was so betossed, It found no more the force it lost: Hope was his only drink and food, And hope extinct, decay ensued.

And, living long so closely penned, He had not kept a single friend; He dwindled thin as phantoms be, And drooped to death in poverty. . ..