Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Why

Why do eyes that were tender,
   Averted, turn away?
Why has our dear love’s splendour
   All faded into gray?
Why is it that lips glow not
   That late were all aglow?
I know not, dear, I know not,
   I only know ’tis so.

Why do you no more tremble
   Now when I kiss your cheek?
Why do we both dissemble
   The thoughts we used to speak?
Why is it that words flow not
   That used to fondly flow?
I know not, dear, I know not,
   I only know ’tis so.

Have we outlived the passion
   That late lit earth and sky?
And is this but the fashion
   A fond love takes to die?
Is it, that we shall know not
   Again love’s rapture glow?
I trust not, sweet, I trust not--
   And yet it may be so.

1. The Birth of the Orchid
2. The Black Charger
3. All the World
4. At Set of Sun
5. The Call (All wantonly in hours of joy)

Bliss Carman Why ("FOR a name unknown")

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