Lo, are their lips fallen and their eyes dead,
Hardly shall a man hear the words they said.
Into the lonely park, all frozen fast,
There came two shadows who recall the past.
"Dost thou remember our old ecstasy?"--
"Wherefore should I possess that memory?"--
"Doth thine heart beat at my sole name alway?
Still dost thou see my soul in visions?" "Nay!"--
"They were fair days of joy unspeakable,
Whereon our lips were joined?"--"I cannot tell."--
"Were not the heavens blue, was not hope high?"--
"Hope has fled vanquished down the darkling sky."--
So through the barren oats they wandered,
And the night only heard the words they said.
III
SPLEEN
Around were all the roses red,
The ivy all around was black.
Dear, so thou only move thine head,
Shall all mine old despairs awake!
Too blue, too tender was the sky,
The air too soft, too green the sea.
Always I fear, I know not why,
Some lamentable flight from thee.
I am so tired of holly-sprays
And weary of the bright box-tree,
Of all the endless country ways;
Of everything alas! save thee.
IV
The sky is up above the roof
So blue, so soft!
A tree there, up above the roof,
Swayeth aloft.
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