Bells and Pomegranates, Second Series/The Lost Mistress

by Robert Browning

THE LOST MISTRESS.

I.
All's over, then—does truth sound bitter
 As one at first believes?
Hark, 'tis the sparrows' good-night twitter
 About your cottage eaves.

II.
And the leaf-buds on the vine are woolly,
 I noticed that to-day;
One day more bursts them open fully
 —You know the red turns gray.

III.
To-morrow we meet the same then, dearest?
 May I take your hand in mine?
Mere friends are we,—well, friends the merest
 Keep much that I'll resign:

IV.
For tho' no glance of the eyes so black
 But I keep with heart's endeavour,—
If you only wish the snowdrops back
 That shall stay in my soul for ever!—

V.
—Yet I will but say what mere friends say,
 Or only a thought stronger;
I will hold your hand but as long as all may,
 Or so very little longer!