2.

I turn'd and humm'd a bitter song

That mock'd the wholesome human heart,

And then we met in wrath and wrong,

We met, but only meant to part.

Full cold my greeting was and dry;

She faintly smiled, she hardly moved;

I saw with half-unconscious eye

She wore the colours I approved.

3.

She took the little ivory chest,

With half a sigh she turn'd the key,

Then raised her head with lips comprest,

And gave my letters back to me.

And

gave the trinkets and the rings,

My gifts, when gifts of mine could please;

As looks a father on the things

Of his dead son, I look'd on these.

4.

She told me all her friends had said;
I raged against the public liar;
She talk'd as if her love were dead,
But in my words were seeds of fire.
'No more of love; your sex is known :
I never will be twice deceived.
Henceforth I trust the man alone,

The woman cannot be believed.

5.

'Thro' slander, meanest spawn of Hell (And women's slander is the worst), And you, whom once I loved so well, Thro' you, my life will be accurst.'

I spoke with heart, and heat and force,

I shook her breast with vague alarms— Like torrents from a mountain source

We rush'd into each other's arms.

6.

We parted sweetly gleam'd the stars,
And sweet the vapour-braided blue,
Low breezes fann'd the belfry bars,

As homeward by the church I drew.
The very graves appear'd to smile,

So fresh they rose in shadow'd swells; 'Dark porch,' I said, 'and silent aisle,

There comes a sound of marriage bells.

ODE

ON THE DEATH OF

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.