OUTGROWN
13
Go measure yourself by her standard. Look back on the years that have fled;
Then ask, if you need, why she tells you that the love of her girlhood is dead!
Then ask, if you need, why she tells you that the love of her girlhood is dead!
She cannot look down to her lover; her love, like her soul, aspires;
He must stand by her side, or above her, who would kindle its holy fires.
He must stand by her side, or above her, who would kindle its holy fires.
Now, farewell! For the sake of old friendship I have ventured to tell you the truth,
As plainly, perhaps, and as bluntly, as I might in our earlier youth.
As plainly, perhaps, and as bluntly, as I might in our earlier youth.