Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

J. B. B. Nichols

Lines by a Person of Quality

THE LOVES that doubted, the loves that dissembled,

That still mistrusted themselves and trembled,

That held back their hands and would not touch;

Who strained sad eyes to look more nearly,

And saw too curiously and clearly

What others blindly clutch;

To whom their passion seemed only seeming,

Who dozed and dreamed they were only dreaming,

And fell in a dusk of dreams on sleep;

When dreams and darkness are rent asunder,

And morn makes mock of their doubts and wonder,

What should they do but weep?