"Love lives by faith," my lover to me said
In earnest tones which loving thought imbue
With grace divine; such sense of honor, few
On earth attain; and by his fervor led,
My hopes to heaven on airy wings had sped;
When I for answer must—as woman e'er do
Needs question love, and say: "can man be true?"
(O, cruel words, had they but been unsaid;)
A changed voice gave to me this cold reply:
With hollow laugh bereft of all delight.
"To question love doth but a doubt imply;
And doubt kills love." And lo! before my sight
Love died, and hurled from out an angry sky,
Hope bleeding fell upon the pall of night.
This poem is in the public domain.