After Paul Verlaine-II

written by


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COLLOQUE SENTIMENTAL

  Into the lonely park all frozen fast,
  Awhile ago there were two forms who passed.

  Lo, are their lips fallen and their eyes dead,
  Hardly shall a man hear the words they said.

  Into the lonely park, all frozen fast,
  There came two shadows who recall the past.

  "Dost thou remember our old ecstasy?"--
  "Wherefore should I possess that memory?"--

  "Doth thine heart beat at my sole name alway?
  Still dost thou see my soul in visions?" "Nay!"--

  "They were fair days of joy unspeakable,
  Whereon our lips were joined?"--"I cannot tell."--

  "Were not the heavens blue, was not hope high?"--
  "Hope has fled vanquished down the darkling sky."--

  So through the barren oats they wandered,
  And the night only heard the words they said.

© Ernest Christopher Dowson