Side By Side

So there sat they,     The estranged two,     Thrust in one pew     By chance that day;     Placed so, breath-nigh,     Each comer unwitting     Who was to be sitting     In touch close by.     Thus side by side     Blindly alighted,     They seemed united     As groom and bride,     Who'd not communed     For many years -     Lives from twain spheres     With hearts distuned.     Her fringes brushed     His garment's hem     As the harmonies rushed     Through each of them:     Her lips could be heard     In the creed and psalms,     And their fingers neared     At the giving of alms.     And women and men,     The matins ended,     By looks commended     Them, joined again.     Quickly said she,     "Don't undeceive them -     Better thus leave them:"     "Quite so," said he.     Slight words! the last     Between them said,     Those two, once wed,     Who had not stood fast.     Diverse their ways     From the western door,     To meet no more     In their span of days.