| Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920. |
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| William Watson. 1858– |
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| 24. Estrangement |
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| SO, without overt breach, we fall apart, | |
| Tacitly sunder—neither you nor I | |
| Conscious of one intelligible Why, | |
| And both, from severance, winning equal smart. | |
| So, with resigned and acquiescent heart, | 5 |
| Whene'er your name on some chance lip may lie, | |
| I seem to see an alien shade pass by, | |
| A spirit wherein I have no lot or part. | |
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| Thus may a captive, in some fortress grim, | |
| From casual speech betwixt his warders, learn | 10 |
| That June on her triumphal progress goes | |
| Through arched and bannered woodlands; while for him | |
| She is a legend emptied of concern, | |
| And idle is the rumour of the rose. | |
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