THE LOVE QUARREL
Nay, I'm sure you've not forgotten, though you fain would have it so;
I know you've not forgotten: shall I tell you why I know?
For all Maud lingers at your side, and Blanche is bending low,
To listen to your whispers, till her breath is on your brow,
For all you smile when Lilia smiles, your smiling mocks at glee,
And by that token, I believe, you're thinking now of me.
I know you've not forgotten: shall I tell you why I know?
For all Maud lingers at your side, and Blanche is bending low,
To listen to your whispers, till her breath is on your brow,
For all you smile when Lilia smiles, your smiling mocks at glee,
And by that token, I believe, you're thinking now of me.
As you lie there in the shadow, with the sunlight on your hair,
With the misty floating curtains looped around you drooping fair,
The velvet sinking to your limbs, the only murmur near,
The music of a woman's voice, low-tuned to meet your ear,
You're thinking how, one summer noon, when summer suns were warm,
I watched beside your half-repose, and your head lay on my arm.
With the misty floating curtains looped around you drooping fair,
The velvet sinking to your limbs, the only murmur near,
The music of a woman's voice, low-tuned to meet your ear,
You're thinking how, one summer noon, when summer suns were warm,
I watched beside your half-repose, and your head lay on my arm.
Then I sang you quaint love-ballads, sang you rhymed and measured words,
But your own were ever sweeter, and the singing of the birds
From the garden chimed in softly, but I thought your voice was best,
And wished the ballad ended, and the little birds at rest,
So I might hear you speak again. You're thinking of it still—
Let Blanche's golden tresses sweep your forehead at their will!
But your own were ever sweeter, and the singing of the birds
From the garden chimed in softly, but I thought your voice was best,
And wished the ballad ended, and the little birds at rest,
So I might hear you speak again. You're thinking of it still—
Let Blanche's golden tresses sweep your forehead at their will!
And how we jested softly, while your breath upon my brow
Fell warmer than another's kiss; and your lightest word sank low,
Low through the full tides of my soul, as a jewel that is thrown
'Mid the waters, still lies hoarded when the ripple is all gone.
Without, a willow trailed its wands along the mossy eaves,
And your heart was full of love-words as the tree was full of leaves.
Fell warmer than another's kiss; and your lightest word sank low,
Low through the full tides of my soul, as a jewel that is thrown
'Mid the waters, still lies hoarded when the ripple is all gone.
Without, a willow trailed its wands along the mossy eaves,
And your heart was full of love-words as the tree was full of leaves.
The leaves are fallen from the tree to bud i' the April rain,
And your lips are very silent now, but their music comes again,
And we 'll marvel in our summer love, why thus with cold delay
We kept the sunshine from Our lips when our hearts were warm as May.
Yet give your pride free rein the while, all wilful though it be,
For I'd rather ten times bend to you than you should bend to me.
And your lips are very silent now, but their music comes again,
And we 'll marvel in our summer love, why thus with cold delay
We kept the sunshine from Our lips when our hearts were warm as May.
Yet give your pride free rein the while, all wilful though it be,
For I'd rather ten times bend to you than you should bend to me.
Though Maud still kneels beside you, with her white hands glancing where
The cushion's silken tassels swing beneath your floating hair,
And though Blanche is bending lower, while with smiling, upturned eyes
You have wooed her head still nearer by your indistinct replies,
I can look the while securely, I can smile the while to know
That you have not yet forgotten, though you fain would make it so.
The cushion's silken tassels swing beneath your floating hair,
And though Blanche is bending lower, while with smiling, upturned eyes
You have wooed her head still nearer by your indistinct replies,
I can look the while securely, I can smile the while to know
That you have not yet forgotten, though you fain would make it so.