We met

    MARIONETTES

    WE met 
    After a year. I shall never forget 
    How odd it was for our eyes to meet, 
    For we had to repeat 
    In our glances the words that we had said 
    In days when, as our lashes lifted 
    Or drooped, the universe was shifted. 
    We had not closed with the past, then why 
    Did the sense come over us as a fetter 
    That all we did speaking eye to eye 
    Had been done before and so much better ? 
    I think — but there's no saying — 
    What made us so hateful was the rage 
    Of our souls at finding ourselves a stage 
    Where marionettes were playing : 
    For a great actor once had trod 
    Those boards and played the god.