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They who have failed us—ah, the searching hurt
No forethought could avert!
But they who failed us did not fall away
To-day nor yesterday;

But very long ago, had we but seen,
The shadow fell between;
A rift, a little rift that still must grow—
'Twas there, full long ago!

Ay, long ago as birth began that flaw
Which Fate the spinner saw!
Oh, they who failed us, long ago they failed;
Naught we might do availed.

Their being's law, more dominant than they,
Marked out their cleaving way;
And they must part from us, if those more kin
Their fealties could win.

They who have failed us, failed not their own law
When thus they did withdraw.
Ask, ere their memories should be assailed,
“Who is it I have failed?

“Perchance I know it not, yet they in me
May but a recreant see—
A truth, a light they loved in me has paled—
Who is it I have failed?”
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