Woman’s Love

Sweet lies! the sweetest ever heard,
To her he said:
Her heart remembers every word
Now he is dead.
I ask:--“If thus his lies can make
Your young heart grieve for his false sake,
Had he been true what had you done,
For true love’s sake?"--
“Upon his grave there in the sun,
Avoided now of all--but one,
I’d lay my heart with all its ache,
And let it break, and let it break.”

And falsehood! fairer ne’er was seen
Than he put on:
Her heart recalls each look and mien
Now he is gone.
I ask:--“If thus his treachery
Can hold your heart with lie on lie,
What had you done for manly love,
Love without lie?"--
“There in the grass that grows above
His grave, where all could know thereof,
I’d lay me down without a sigh,
And gladly die, and gladly die.”