OUTSIDE THE CASEMENT

We sat in the room

And praised her whom

We saw in the portico-shade outside:

She could not hear

What was said of her,

But smiled, for its purport we did not hide.

Then in was brought

That message, fraught

With evil fortune for her out there,

Whom we loved that day

More than any could say,

And would fain have fenced from a waft of care.

And the question pressed

Like lead on each breast,

Should we cloak the tidings, or call her and tell?

It was too intense

A choice for our sense,

As we pondered and watched her we loved so well.

Yea, spirit failed us

At what assailed us;

How long, while seeing what soon must come,

Should we counterfeit

No knowledge of it,

And stay the stroke that would blanch and numb?

And thus, before

For evermore

Joy left her, we practised to beguile

Her innocence when

She now and again

Looked in, and smiled us another smile.