By this he knew she wept with waking eyes: That, as his hand's light quiver by her head, The strange low sobs that shook their common bed Were called into her with a sharp surprise, And strangled mute, like little gaping snakes, Dreadfully venomous to him. She lay Stone-still, and the long darkness flowed away With muffled pulses. Then, as midnight makes Her giant heart of Memory and Tears Drink the pale drug of silence, and so beat Sleep's heavy measure, they from head to feet Were moveless, looking through their dead black years, By vain regret scrawled over the blank wall. Like sculptured effigies they might be seen Upon their marriage-tomb, the sword between; Each wishing for the sword that severs all. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY LOVE'S GUARDIAN ANGEL by WILLIAM BARNES THE CROSS OF SNOW by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THESEUS by THOMAS STURGE MOORE THE OLD SWIMMIN'-HOLE by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY IT IS FINISHED' by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SONG, FR. THE TWO GENTELEM OF VERONA by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE IDYLLS OF THE KING: THE MARRIAGE OF GERAINT by ALFRED TENNYSON |