2.1 I think I should have loved you presently,
2.2 And given in earnest words I flung in jest;
2.3 And lifted honest eyes for you to see,
2.4 And caught your hand against my cheek and
breast;
2.5 And all my pretty follies flung aside
2.6 That won you to me, and beneath your gaze,
2.7 Naked of reticence and shorn of pride,
2.8 Spread like a chart my little wicked ways.
2.9 I, that had been to you, had you remained,
2.10 But one more waking from a recurrent dream,
2.11 Cherish no less the certain stakes I gained,
2.12 And walk your memory's halls, austere, supreme,
2.13 A ghost in marble of a girl you knew
2.14 Who would have loved you in a day or two.
I Think I Should Have Loved You Presently
It is about a brief affair. She was thinking whenever she said the words "I love you" that she should have meant those words with her heart rather than saying them as a joke. At the time, they did not believe in being involved in a serious relationship. He used to like her because she was a shallow person. They just wanted to have fun. Now she thinks she would have loved him only if they could have lasted a couple more days. She is certain he would have never loved her back even if she had fallen in love.
4.1 I shall forget you presently, my
dear,
4.2 So make the most of this, your little day,
4.3 Your little month, your little half a year,
4.4 Ere I forget, or die, or move away,
4.5 And we are done forever; by and by
4.6 I shall forget you, as I said, but now,
4.7 If you entreat me with your loveliest lie
4.8 I will protest you with my favorite vow.
4.9 I would indeed that love were longer-lived,
4.10 And vows were not so brittle as they are,
4.11 But so it is, and nature has contrived
4.12 To struggle on without a break thus far, --
4.13 Whether or not we find what we are seeking
4.14 Is idle, biologically speaking.
She's had so many lovers that she forgets them as individuals. This will be the fate of her current lover as well. They are not the type of people who love for very long.
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