The lad came to the door at night, <br />When lovers crown their vows, <br />And whistled soft and out of sight <br />In shadow of the boughs. <br /> <br />"I shall not vex you with my face <br />Henceforth, my love, for aye; <br />So take me in your arms a space <br />Before the cast is grey. <br /> <br />"When I from hence away am past <br />I shall not find a bride, <br />And you shall be the first and last <br />I ever lay beside." <br /> <br />She heard and went and knew not why; <br />Her heart to his she laid; <br />Light was the air beneath the sky <br />But dark under the shade. <br /> <br />"Oh do you breathe, lad, that your breast <br />Seems not to rise and fall, <br />And here upon my bosom prest <br />There beats no heart at all?" <br /> <br />"Oh loud, my girl, it once would knock, <br />You should have felt it then; <br />But since for you I stopped the clock <br />It never goes again." <br /> <br />"Oh lad, what is it, lad, that drips <br />Wet from your neck on mine? <br />What is it falling on my lips, <br />My lad, that tastes of brine?" <br /> <br />"Oh like enough 'tis blood, my dear, <br />For when the knife was slit, <br />The throat across from ear to ear <br />'Twill bleed because of it." <br /> <br />Under the stars the air was light <br />But dark below the boughs, <br />The still air of the speechless night, <br />When lovers crown their vows.<br /><br />Alfred Edward Housman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-true-lover/
