I knew thee light as foam that plays the ocean waves among,
I knew thee vain as ever gaze upon the mirror flung.
IV.
And he the light and vain one, for him there never wakes
That love for which a woman's heart will beat until it breaks;
But yet the spell was pleasant, though it be broken now,
Like shaking down loose blossoms from off the careless bough.
V.
They never came to fruit, and their sweet lives soon were o'er,
But we lived an hour beneath them, we never dreamed of more:
No vow was ever plighted, we had no farewell to say,
Gay were we when we met at first, and we parted just as gay.
VI.
Our last was even as our first—light, volatile and vain;
The dance was done, the song was sung, we never met again;—
There was little to remember, and nothing to regret,
Love touches not the flatterer, love chains not the coquette.
