So, without overt breach, we fall apart, <br />Tacitly sunder--neither you nor I <br />Conscious of one intelligible Why, <br />And both, from severance, winning equal smart. <br />So, with resigned and acquiescent heart, <br />Whene'er your name on some chance lip may lie, <br />I seem to see an alien shade pass by, <br />A spirit wherein I have no lot or part. <br />Thus may a captive, in some fortress grim, <br />From casual speech betwixt his warders, learn <br />That June on her triumphant progress goes <br />Through arched and bannered woodlands; while for him <br />She is a legend emptied of concern, <br />And idle is the rumour of the rose.<br /><br />William Watson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/estrangement-4/
