Neighbors
As often as we thought of her,We thought of a gray lifeThat made a quaint economistOf a wolf-haunted wife;We made the best of all she boreThat was not ours to bear,And honored her for wearing thingsThat were not things to wear.
There was a distance in her lookThat made us look again;And if she smiled, we might believeThat we had looked in vain.Rarely she came inside our doors,And had not long to stay;And when she left, it seemed somehowThat she was far away.
At last, when we had all forgotThat all is here to change,A shadow on the commonplaceWas for a moment strange.Yet there was nothing for surprise,Nor much that need be told:Love, with his gift of pain, had givenMore than one heart could hold.