AS A WORLD WOULD HAVE IT
"Do I cling to shadows when I call you Life?
Do you love me still, or are the shadows all?
Or is it I that love you in the grave,
And you that mourn for me?
"If it be that, then do not mourn for me;
Be glad that I have loved you, and be King.
But if it be not that if it be true . . .
Tell me if it be true!"
Then with a choking answer the King spoke;
But never touched his hand on hers, or fixed
His eyes on hers, or on the face of her :
"Yes, it is true," he said.
"You are alive, and you are with me now;
And you are reaching up to me that I
That I may take you I that am a King
I that was once a man."
So then she knew. She might have known before;
Truly, she thought, she must have known it long
Before: she must have known it when she came
From that great sleep of hers.
She knew the truth, but not yet all of it :
He loved her, but he would not let his eyes
Prove that he loved her ; and he would not hold
His wife there in his arms.
So, like a slave, she waited at his knees,
And waited. She was not unhappy now.
She quivered, but she knew that he would speak
Again and he did speak.
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