ALMOST I loved you, But not quite; And now I do remember Through the long, dark night, Stretching far behind me, Like the restless sea, Desolate, lonely, sobbing, On the dark shores of long ago— I do remember! I do remember! Yes, I do remember! It was best! I did not wholly love you,— I only thought I might adore you: Thought! You know the rest: You too remember (It was December) How, when the hills were white, And Winter day had faded To a longer Winter night, We quarrelled. 'T was a blessed quarrel that gave vision To a blind and wandering heart. Ah well! Since then the flowers have faded, And have bloomed again in beauty many times; Now return the snows of Winter, After twenty years of Winter in my heart. I am dreaming, dreaming, dreaming Of the roses, fragrant, fair; Once you gayly bound them in your golden hair, While I shouted, wild with laughter, @3"Mea rosa! Mea rosa!"@1 Oh, so long—so long ago! Had I loved you? Had I!—who can tell What had been my life to me Had I loved you well? I did not love you—that was all! Only still I must remember The lone desolate December, And its visions like pale ghost-fires Dancing in the midnight sky. |