80 AT PARTING

Thus then I end my calendar Of ancient loves more light than air;— And now Lad’s Love, that led afar In April fields that were so fair, Is fled, and I no longer share Sedate unutterable days With Heart’s Desire, nor ever praise Félise, or mirror forth the lures Of Stella’s eyes nor Sylvia’s, Yet love for each loved lass endures. Chloris is wedded, and Ettarre Forgets; Yolande loves otherwhere, And worms long since made bold to mar The lips of Dorothy and fare Mid Florimel’s bright ruined hair; And time obscures that roseate haze Which glorified hushed woodland ways When Phyllis came, as time obscures That faith which once was Phyllida’s,— Yet love for each loved lass endures. That boy is dead as Schariar, Tiglath-pileser, or Clotaire, Who once of love got many a scar. And his loved lasses past compare?— None is alive now anywhere. Each is transmuted nowadays Into a stranger, and displays No whit of love’s investitures. I let these women go their ways, Yet love for each loved lass endures. Heart o’ My Heart, thine be the praise If aught of good in me betrays Thy tutelage—whose love matures Unmarred in these more wistful days,— Yet love for each loved lass endures.