The Old Road to Paradise/And If You Came

by Margaret Widdemer

AND IF YOU CAME—

And if you came?—Oh, I would smile
 And sit quite still to hide
My throat that something clutched the while,
 My heart that struck my side.

And you would hear my slow words fall,
 (Men do not know!) and say
"She does not love me now at all,"
 And rise and go away.

And I would watch, as quietly
 Your footsteps crossed the sill,
The whole world dying out from me . . .
 And speak on, smiling, still.