O hardly out of hate,
He flew down flights of stairs
To where she lay;
Too tender to berate
His long delay
She fell in love with flight.
He fell in love with her,
Who’d counted all the stares
That marked his way.
A tardy traveller
In love with time,
He heard the clocks whir.
She heard the cocks wake
Pastel and country towns;
He loved the city,
Dangerous as a snake,
In love with him.
She heard his heart break.
He saw her broken eyes
Too many years too late
To make them whole;
He found, to his surprise,
It was himself
Who dammed those pretty eyes.
She pitied pity. Wise
Too late, she thought she’d take
To dressing up
In any old disguise
To keep from him
Their happiness of lies.
Though happy for a time,
He came to know too soon
The cost of tears
Unshed. He aped her crime
For years. For years,
They lived a double shame.
And they could never give
Enough to get away
From where they hid,
And both took to the grave
The harm they did,
Their necessary love.
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