Frances Anne Kemble

27 November 1809 - 15 January 1893 / London, England

On A Hollow Friendship

A bitter cheat!—and here at length it ends—
And thou and I, who were to one another
More closely knit than brother is to brother,
Shall not be even as two common friends.
Never again in our two hearts may grow
The love whose root was bleeding torn away;
Sadly and darkly shall our spirits go,
Companionless, through life's remaining way:
What though still side by side—yet never more
Each answering other, as they did before;
Lonelier by far, than those who ne'er have known
Dear partnership of love such as we knew,
Unpitied by our fellows, to whose view
A seeming false must o'er our state be thrown—
Thus shall we henceforth walk, together—yet alone.
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