Tact

    OBSERVANT of the way she told
        So much of what was true,
    No vanity could long withhold
        Regard that was her due:
    She spared him the familiar guile,
        So easily achieved,
    That only made a man to smile
        And left him undeceived.

    Aware that all imagining
        Of more than what she meant
    Would urge an end of everything,
        He stayed; and when he went,
    They parted with a merry word
        That was to him as light
    As any that was ever heard
        Upon a starry night.

    She smiled a little, knowing well
        That he would not remark
    The ruins of a day that fell
        Around her in the dark:
    He saw no ruins anywhere,
        Nor fancied there were scars
    On anyone who lingered there,
        Alone below the stars.

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