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WHITE LIES
Could I be young as I once was young—
Young, body and heart, again:
Could you but be fair as you once were fair
(But wishing, ah me! is vain);
There were happiness now that we missed somehow
In days that ended in pain.
Young, body and heart, again:
Could you but be fair as you once were fair
(But wishing, ah me! is vain);
There were happiness now that we missed somehow
In days that ended in pain.
Could I but love as once I loved
In old old days that are sped:
Could you but be true as I thought you true
Ere trust in my heart was dead;
There were still to know, in place of woe,
Ah me, what a joy instead!
In old old days that are sped:
Could you but be true as I thought you true
Ere trust in my heart was dead;
There were still to know, in place of woe,
Ah me, what a joy instead!
But I may not love as I loved in youth,
Nor trust as I trusted then;
Nor beauty is yours, nor the little of truth
That you brought to the sons of men:
There is nothing to mend, and here must end
My song—but I loved you then!
Nor trust as I trusted then;
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That you brought to the sons of men:
There is nothing to mend, and here must end
My song—but I loved you then!
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