University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Collected poems

by A. E. [i.e. G. W. Russell

expand section


339

THE LOST OTHERS

You set your heart on Nancy.
You won your fancy, lad.
But love had never taught you
What other names she had,
Or what gay Naiad lent her grace,
What shining Oread.
You did not know what beauty
Thronged in one light disguise:
What eyes gazed out of Faery,
What Sibyl from the Wise,
What burning miracle her soul
Was in its native skies.
You won your pretty Nancy;
But she was all you had.
The starry women vanished.
A lonely lass and lad
Mutely upon each other gaze
Nor know why they are sad.