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| I LOVED a woman. The stars fell from heaven. |
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| And always our two natures were in strife. |
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| Bewildering spring, and by the Auvezère |
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| Poppies and day’s eyes in the green émail |
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| Rose over us; and we knew all that stream, |
5 |
| And our two horses had traced out the valleys; |
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| Knew the low flooded lands squared out with poplars, |
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| In the young days when the deep sky befriended. |
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| And great wings beat above us in the twilight, |
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| And the great wheels in heaven |
10 |
| Bore us together … surging and apart … |
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| Believing we should meet with lips and hands. |
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| High, high and sure … and then the counterthrust: |
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| “Why do you love me? Will you always love me? |
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| But I am like the grass, I can not love you.” |
15 |
| Or, “Love, and I love and love you, |
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| And hate your mind, not you, your soul, your hands.” |
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| So to this last estrangement, Tairiran! |
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| There shut up in his castle, Tairiran’s! |
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| She who had nor ears nor tongue save in her hands, |
20 |
| Gone—ah, gone—untouched, unreachable! |
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| She who could never live save through one person, |
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| She who could never speak save to one person, |
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| And all the rest of her a shifting change, |
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| A broken bundle of mirrors…! |
25 |
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