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"Hermione and other poems [electronic text]." In the digital collection American Verse Project. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAP5349.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 5, 2024.
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THE COUP DE GRACE
IF I were very sureThat all was over betwixt you and me—That, while this endless absence I endureWith but one mood, one dream, one miseryOf waiting, you were happier to be free,—
Then I might find againIn cloud and stream and all the winds that blow,Yea, even in the faces of my fellow-men,The old companionship; and I might knowOnce more the pulse of action, ere I go.
But now I cannot rest,While this one pleading, querulous tone without
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Breaks in and mars the music in my breast.I open the closed door—lo! all about,What seem your lingering footprints; then I doubt.
Waken me from this sleep!Strike fearless, let the naked truth-edge gleam!For while the beautiful old past I keep,I am a phantom, and all mortals seemBut phantoms, and my life fades as a dream.
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