Perhaps, long hence, when I have passed away, Some other's feature, accent, thought like mine, Will carry you back to what I used to say, And bring some memory of your love's decline.
Then you may pause awhile and think, "Poor jade!"And yield a sigh to me--as ample due, Not as the tittle of a debt unpaid To one who could resign her all to you -And thus reflecting, you will never see That your thin thought, in two small words conveyed, Was no such fleeting phantom-thought to me, But the Whole Life wherein my part was played;And you amid its fitful masquerade A Thought--as I in yours but seem to be.
1866.
