By this he knew she wept with waking eyes: <br />That, at his hand's light quiver by her head, <br />The strange low sobs that shook their common bed <br />Were called into her with a sharp surprise, <br />And strangled mute, like little gaping snakes, <br />Dreadfully venomous to him. She lay <br />Stone-still, and the long darkness flowed away <br />With muffled pulses. Then, as midnight makes <br />Her giant heart of Memory and Tears <br />Drink the pale drug of silence, and so beat <br />Sleep's heavy measure, they from head to feet <br />Were moveless, looking through their dead black years, <br />By vain regret scrawled over the blank wall. <br />Like sculptured effigies they might be seen <br />Upon their marriage-tomb, the sword between; <br />Each wishing for the sword that severs all.<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/modern-love-i-by-this-he-knew-she-wept/
