Page:Poems PiattVol2.djvu/143

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A TRAGEDY IN WESTERN WOODS. [WOMAN SPEAKS.]
Why, we are willing, friend, to end with death;
Death to begin with is another thing.
Too bitter is it not to keep our breath
Until its best from this brave world we wring.

Confronting dew and briar-rose, pitiless sun,
And bird that sang not knowing, on her breast
A bud unwithered, damp with blood, lay one
Who dreamed of life, perhaps—and knew the rest.

The girl's shy lover, through weird-whispering trees
Walked eagerly, perhaps an instant late:
(That day of all days, feverish to please!)—
He started, stared, and fell against the gate.

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