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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—