Classic Poem

The roadway ran with willows on one hand
And on the other, sedges: then the stream.
Dusk, like a tired labourer, on the land
Stretched out his limbs in dream.

And she, young Mary Meadows, who alone
Wandered the winding road to Bracken Dell,
Heard her dull steps as noise she would disown,
Loud as a vesper bell.

To ease her heavy heart she spoke aloud:
" O Robert, you are day and I am night,
And night to day must ever be a shroud:
That's why we always fight.

" You are a running brook, and I a mere;
You are the dew, and I the falling rain.
I am — till you come: then I disappear
And treat you with disdain.

" Yet God knows how I love you! Does He know?
God up in Heaven, look down and see this pain,
And grant me this: 'mong all who come and go
Make none like me again.

" Make all the girls that shall be born hereafter
Different from me: give them bright happy days,
Kind hearts and open eyes brimmed up with laughter,
Lovable, graceful ways.

" Let them not always do the thing they hate,
Say what they do not mean — they know not why,
Remember what they meant to say too late:
Let none be such as I.

" My name is Mary: that means " bitterness."
Could bitter waters sweeten, would you say,
By wishing they were just a little less
Bitter from day to day?

" Ah Robert! Surely if you came to-night,
Came now it's dark and I am sad as this,
Something that's always wrong would be put right,
Something you always miss

" I should say out my heart and you would hear:
I shouldn't laugh my stupidness away;
The cloud between us then would disappear,
And I'd be clear as day.

" For I should hold your hand with mine and speak,
And simply tell you all there is to tell;
Though it all sounded muddled up and weak,
You'd understand quite well.

" You'd understand! O Robert, if you could,
I think my heart would break with love for you;
Then we should walk out of this great dark wood
Upon a lovely view,

" Where it was light and I could see your eyes
And look in them without the slightest fear,
Until we smiled and cried for sheer surprise
That we could be so near.

" I'd kiss the very earth you walked on then:
Nothing would ever worry me again,
And I should laugh at anybody when
They gave me their disdain,

" Knowing you understood what they mistook,
Feeling so clear when they would muddle me,
Because I knew, just where they could not look
Was just where you could see.

" Ah, but it's not like that. You haven't come.
How will it end? When will it all be clear?
When will you know, although I still am dumb,
I love you — love you, dear? "