Sonnet V, If I Should Learn

If I should learn, in some quite casual way,  
   That you were gone, not to return again—  
Read from the back-page of a paper, say,  
   Held by a neighbor in a subway train,  
How at the corner of this avenue        
   And such a street (so are the papers filled)  
A hurrying man—who happened to be you—  
   At noon to-day had happened to be killed,  
I should not cry aloud—I could not cry  
   Aloud, or wring my hands in such a place—        
I should but watch the station lights rush by  
   With a more careful interest on my face,  
Or raise my eyes and read with greater care  
Where to store furs and how to treat the hair.