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SONNET: 5, 12 by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: TWAS GRANTED: - BUT THE BITTER GOD OF LOVE
Last Line: WE FELL, LIKE PHADIMUS AND TANTALUS.

'Twas granted:--but the bitter god of Love,
As in revenge for some disparagement,
Left us to strive, inextricably blent,
Before we knew in truth for what we strove,
Or why we went, unwillingly, who went,
Or whether driven, or who he was that drove.
The countless haps that draw vague heart to heart,
The countless hands that push true hearts apart--
Of these we nothing recked, and nothing knew.
The wonder of the world, the faint surmise,
The clouded looks of hate, the harrowing eyes,
But pierced and pinned together: 'twas one to us.
With the same arrow smitten through and through,
We fell, like Phadimus and Tantalus.



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