27 SITUATION She tried her best to make me understand. Her voice was intimately soft; one hand From time to time caressed the air and made Each point a confidence, the other laid Unconsciously (of course) upon my knee, Pressed home the facts I might have failed to see And caused her pure affection, nothing less, Suggest a fine, romantic loneliness. "You know precisely how I feel about it. No other friend of mine remotely grasps it.11 We took our coffee seated in the shade, She had no axe to grind but knew her trade, And turned the conversation when I sighed, To what I loved in secret but denied. And then the chips are down -- I recognise The haze of self-deception in our eyes.