The Star and the Garter

XI I am a pretty advocate! My speech has served me ill. Perchance Silence had served: you now look straight On that clear evidence of France, The embroidered garter yonder. Wait! I had some confidence in fate Ere I spoke thus. For while I spoke The old smile, surely helpless, broke On your tired lips: the old light woke In your deep eyes: but silence falls Black, blank : the species that appals, Not our old silence. I devise A motto for your miseries : “There an embroidered garter lies, And here words—they lie too?” I see Your intuition of the truth Is still in its—most charming—youth. You need that physiology! 28