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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TWO LIVES. PART 1: 9 by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

First Line: FROM HER OWN LIPS I LEARNED THE AWFUL TRUTH
Last Line: HER EXALTATION AFTER SUCH DESPAIR.

From her own lips I learned the awful truth --
Which, like a child of hope with perfect smile,
She babbled, O so innocent of guile --
As some adventure of an alien youth,
Rescued by white sails from a midsea isle
Of shrieking beaks and fins and claws uncouth,
Or eery dream demanding never ruth
Because but dream and vanished the long while --
As something far and strange that I should hear . . .
And why? Because she would conceal me naught,
As bound in honor? No. Because of fear
I'd learn of others some day? No. -- She thought
Her lover would rejoice -- rejoice to share
Her exaltation after @3such@1 despair.



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