If I could say it—to say it was all over.
There is your world outside, all fame and banners,
And it was never mine to take from you.
You must not let me take your world away
From you, after all this. Love is not that.
Before you are much older, I suppose
You will go back to Brittany, where Isolt—
That other Isolt—will think, and some day know.
Women are not so bitter if once they know,
And if the other is dead. Now forget that,
And kiss me as if we were to live for ever.
Perhaps we shall, somewhere.”
There is your world outside, all fame and banners,
And it was never mine to take from you.
You must not let me take your world away
From you, after all this. Love is not that.
Before you are much older, I suppose
You will go back to Brittany, where Isolt—
That other Isolt—will think, and some day know.
Women are not so bitter if once they know,
And if the other is dead. Now forget that,
And kiss me as if we were to live for ever.
Perhaps we shall, somewhere.”
She smiled at him
And shivered, and they were silent for a while.
Then she said, “Do not say it. You’ll only say
That if I lost my ears and had no hair,
And I had whelks and moles all over my face,
Your love would be the same as it is now—
So let’s believe, and leave it. And if not that,
Your love would find new benefits and rewards
In losing all for me—while yet there’s time
Not to lose all. If you think only of me,
And shivered, and they were silent for a while.
Then she said, “Do not say it. You’ll only say
That if I lost my ears and had no hair,
And I had whelks and moles all over my face,
Your love would be the same as it is now—
So let’s believe, and leave it. And if not that,
Your love would find new benefits and rewards
In losing all for me—while yet there’s time
Not to lose all. If you think only of me,
[ 160 ]
