Neutral Tones

WE stood by a pond that winter day,
  And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,
  And a few leaves lay on the starving sod,
  --They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.

  Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
  Over tedious riddles solved years ago;
  And some words played between us to and fro--
  On which lost the more by our love.

  The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
  Alive enough to have strength to die;
  And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
  Like an ominous bird a-wing....

  Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,
  And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
  Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree,
  And a pond edged with grayish leaves.

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