| Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922. | | | | The Oldest Song |
| | For before Eve was Lilith.—Old Tale.
“THESE were never your true love’s eyes. | |
| Why do you feign that you love them? | |
| You that broke from their constancies, | |
| And the wide calm brows above them! | |
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| This was never your true love’s speech. | 5 |
| Why do you thrill when you hear it? | |
| You that have ridden out of its reach | |
| The width of the world or near it! | |
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| This was never your true love’s hair,— | |
| You that chafed when it bound you | 10 |
| Screened from knowledge or shame or care, | |
| In the night that it made around you!” | |
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| “All these things I know, I know. | |
| And that’s why my heart is breaking!” | |
| “Then what do you gain by pretending so?” | 15 |
| “The joy of an old wound waking.” | | | | |
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