To One Who Might Have Borne a Message

Had I known that you were going

I would have given you messages for her,

Now two years dead,

Whom I shall always love.

As it is, should she entreat you how it goes with me,

You must reply: as well as with most, you fancy;

That I love easily, and pass the time.

And she will not know how all day long between

My life and me her shadow intervenes,

A young thin girl,

Wearing a white skirt and a purple sweater

And a narrow pale blue ribbon about her hair.

I used to say to her, “I love you

Because your face is such a pretty colour,

No other reason.”

But it was not true.

Oh, had I only known that you were going,

I could have given you messages for her!