Alfred Tennyson

“ So Willy and I were wedded: I wore a lilac gown;
And the ringers rang with a will, and he gave the ringers a crown.
But the first that ever I bare was dead before he was born,
Shadow and shine is life, little Annie, flower and thorn. ”

“ And the parson made it his text that week, and he said likewise,
That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies,
That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright,
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.
IX.
And Willy had not been down to the farm for a week and a day;
And all things look’d half-dead, tho’ it was the middle of May.
Jenny, to slander me, who knew what Jenny had been!
But soiling another, Annie, will never make oneself clean. ”

“ And he turn’d, and I saw his eyes all wet, in the sweet moonshine:
“Sweetheart, I love you so well that your good name is mine.
And what do I came for Jane, let her speak of you well or ill;
But marry me out of hand: we two shall be happy still.” ”