Pictures in Rhyme/'They tell me you have Married'

by Arthur Clark Kennedy

'THEY TELL ME YOU HAVE MARRIED'

They tell me you have married
Since I have been away;
But I, where have I tarried
So long? you say.

A year ago I named you
As mine; you vowed to stay
Mine only till I claimed you—
A year to-day!

And do I find you altered?
Your face is still the same;
But those full lips, which faltered
Once my name,

Are pledged unto another's
(Red wine—a goblet old);
And he has filled your mother's
Hands with gold.

But have you quite forgotten
Those songs we used to sing
In that dim room—begotten
When love was king?

Why should those days return not?
You ask me: ask that ring.
Fires of pure poesy burn not
Where Wealth is king.