Three Taverns: A Book of Poems — Neighbors

Neighbors As often as we thought of her, We thought of a gray life That made a quaint economist Of a wolf-haunted wife;

We made the best of all she bore That was not ours to bear, And honored her for wearing things That were not things to wear.

There was a distance in her look That made us look again;

And if she smiled, we might believe That we had looked in vain.

Rarely she came inside our doors, And had not long to stay;

And when she left, it seemed somehow That she was far away.

At last, when we had all forgot That all is here to change, A shadow on the commonplace Was for a moment strange.

Yet there was nothing for surprise, Nor much that need be told: Love, with his gift of pain, had given More than one heart could hold.