Some Woman To Man

We might have loved each other after all,
Have lived and learned together! Yet I doubt it;
You asked, I think, too great a sacrifice,
Or else, perhaps, I rate myself too dear.
Whichever way the difference lies between us,
Would common cares have helped to lessen it,
A common interest, and a common lot?
Who knows indeed? We choose our path, and then
Stand looking back and sighing at our choice,
And say: �Perhaps the other road had led
To fruitful valleys dozing in the sun.�
Perhaps—perhaps—but all things are perhaps,
And either way there lies a doubt, you know.
We�ve but one life to live, and fifty ways
To live it in, and little time to choose
The one in fifty that will suit us best,
And so the end is, that we part, and say:
�We might have loved each other after all!�

1878.