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Home  »  An American Anthology, 1787–1900  »  1349 The Contrast

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Helen GrayCone

1349 The Contrast

HE loved her, having felt his love begin

With that first look,—as lover oft avers.

He made pale flowers his pleading ministers,

Impressed sweet music, drew the springtime in

To serve his suit; but when he could not win,

Forgot her face and those gray eyes of hers;

And at her name his pulse no longer stirs,

And life goes on as though she had not been.

She never loved him; but she loved Love so,

So reverenced Love, that all her being shook

At his demand whose entrance she denied.

Her thoughts of him such tender color took

As western skies that keep the afterglow.

The words he spoke were with her till she died.