Outside The Casement

A Reminiscence Of The War     We sat in the room     And praised her whom     We saw in the portico-shade outside:     She could not hear     What was said of her,     But smiled, for its purport we did not hide.     Then in was brought     That message, fraught     With evil fortune for her out there,     Whom we loved that day     More than any could say,     And would fain have fenced from a waft of care.     And the question pressed     Like lead on each breast,     Should we cloak the tidings, or call her and tell?     It was too intense     A choice for our sense,     As we pondered and watched her we loved so well.     Yea, spirit failed us     At what assailed us;     How long, while seeing what soon must come,     Should we counterfeit     No knowledge of it,     And stay the stroke that would blanch and numb?     And thus, before     For evermore     Joy left her, we practised to beguile     Her innocence when     She now and again     Looked in, and smiled us another smile.