On summer afternoons I sit

Quiescent by you in the park

And idly watch the sunbeams gild

And tint the ash-trees’ bark.

Or else I watch the squirrels frisk

And chaffer in the grassy lane;

And all the while I mark your voice

Breaking with love and pain.

I know a woman who would give

Her chance of heaven to take my place;

To see the love-light in your eyes,

The love-glow on your face!

And there’s a man whose lightest word

Can set my chilly blood afire;

Fulfillment of his least behest

Defines my life’s desire.

But he will none of me, nor I

Of you. Not you of her. ‘Tis said

The world is full of jests like these—

I wish that I were dead.