Rosemary and Pansies/Unspoken Passion

by Bertram Dobell

UNSPOKEN PASSION

We never breathed of lore a word,
Yet we were both aware
Of the deep passion newly stirred
Which neither might declare.

We talked of things indifferent,
And none our thoughts might guess,
Though love to every accent lent
A tone of tenderness.

Swift telegraphic messages
Flashed forth from eye to eye:
"I love, but must my love suppress"—
"O cruel destiny."

"Ah! had we only met before.
When we to love were free!"
"Wretched we must be evermore,
None so forlorn as we!"

"Our secret love our eyes alone,
And not our lips may tell."
"No need of words for what is known
To both of us so well."

And still we talked of this and that,
Scarce knowing what we said;
But through our disconnected chat
There ran a subtle thread—

A subtle underlying thread
Of pleasure mixed with pain,
A mingled ecstasy and dread
That thrilled through heart and brain.

And left us with a yearning sense
Of sorrow and regret,
And of a mighty difference
Since we that night had met.

1899