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87

OLD LOVE

You must be very old, Sir Giles,”
I said; he said: “Yea, very old:”
Whereat the mournfullest of smiles
Creased his dry skin with many a fold.
“They hammer'd out my basnet point
Into a round salade,” he said,
“The basnet being quite out of joint,
Natheless the salade rasps my head.”
He gazed at the great fire awhile:
“And you are getting old, Sir John;”
(He said this with that cunning smile
That was most sad) “we both wear on,
“Knights come to court and look at me,
With eyebrows up, except my lord
And my dear lady, none I see
That know the ways of my old sword.”
(My lady! at that word no pang
Stopp'd all my blood). “But tell me, John,
Is it quite true that Pagans hang
So thick about the east, that on
“The eastern sea no Venice flag
Can fly unpaid for?” “True,” I said,
“And in such way the miscreants drag
Christ's cross upon the ground, I dread
“That Constantine must fall this year.”
Within my heart: “These things are small;
This is not small, that things outwear
I thought were made for ever, yea, all,
88

“All things go soon or late,” I said.
I saw the duke in court next day;
Just as before, his grand great head
Above his gold robes dreaming lay,
Only his face was paler; there
I saw his duchess sit by him;
And she—she was changed more; her hair
Before my eyes that used to swim,
And make me dizzy with great bliss
Once, when I used to watch her sit—
Her hair is bright still, yet it is
As though some dust were thrown on it.
Her eyes are shallower, as though
Some grey glass were behind; her brow
And cheeks the straining bones show through,
Are not so good for kissing now.
Her lips are drier now she is
A great duke's wife these many years;
They will not shudder with a kiss
As once they did, being moist with tears.
Also her hands have lost that way
Of clinging that they used to have;
They look'd quite easy, as they lay
Upon the silken cushions brave
With broidery of the apples green
My Lord Duke bears upon his shield.
Her face, alas! that I have seen
Look fresher than an April field,
89

This is all gone now; gone also
Her tender walking; when she walks
She is most queenly I well know,
And she is fair still—as the stalks
Of faded summer-lilies are,
So is she grown now unto me
This spring-time, when the flowers star
The meadows, birds sing wonderfully.
I warrant once she used to cling
About his neck, and kiss'd him so,
And then his coming step would ring
Joy-bells for her,—some time ago.
Ah! sometimes like an idle dream
That hinders true life overmuch,
Sometimes like a lost heaven, these seem—
This love is not so hard to smutch.
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