Two Ways of Love.
64
This fatal beauty that is not for me,
These have invaded and usurped my life.
I thought to keep, amid the wreck of joy,
The dear sharp pang of honour in my breast,
The right to walk with lifted head, and look
My fellows in the face. This, too, I yield.
Now nothing counts. And yet it will not win
You happiness. I speak of what I know.
If you must do this thrice-accursed thing,
I ask, as one in truth who has no claim,
Whose only role is giving, if you must
Then do it wholly. Keep your secret close
As I shall too, inviolate as death.
These have invaded and usurped my life.
I thought to keep, amid the wreck of joy,
The dear sharp pang of honour in my breast,
The right to walk with lifted head, and look
My fellows in the face. This, too, I yield.
Now nothing counts. And yet it will not win
You happiness. I speak of what I know.
If you must do this thrice-accursed thing,
I ask, as one in truth who has no claim,
Whose only role is giving, if you must
Then do it wholly. Keep your secret close
As I shall too, inviolate as death.
Adrienne—
No! No! It is your ignorance that speaks.
I could not live with such a ghost unclaimed.
And I shall tell him and we too shall prove
The true dimensions of the power of love———
No! No! It is your ignorance that speaks.
I could not live with such a ghost unclaimed.
And I shall tell him and we too shall prove
The true dimensions of the power of love———
Tom—
You go to ruin, girl, as surely as———
You go to ruin, girl, as surely as———
Adrienne—
Oh! not so sadly, cousin. Let us part
With rosier visions. Ruin is an old
Oh! not so sadly, cousin. Let us part
With rosier visions. Ruin is an old
