Observant of the way she told <br />So much of what was true, <br />No vanity could long withhold <br />Regard that was her due: <br />She spared him the familiar guile, <br />So easily achieved, <br />That only made a man to smile <br />And left him undeceived. <br /> <br />Aware that all imagining <br />Of more than what she meant <br />Would urge an end of everything, <br />He stayed; and when he went, <br />They parted with a merry word <br />That was to him as light <br />As any that was ever heard <br />Upon a starry night. <br /> <br />She smiled a little, knowing well <br />That he would not remark <br />The ruins of a day that fell <br />Around her in the dark: <br />He saw no ruins anywhere, <br />Nor fancied there were scars <br />On anyone who lingered there, <br />Alone below the stars.<br /><br />Edwin Arlington Robinson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tact-2/
