Rules them relentlessly; smiles forced and faint
And joyless facial spasms
Their meetings and their mutterings attend.
Jerky approximations quickly end
In void unvocal chasms.
"Yet still they circle, and yet still they loll.
A marionette wooing a wooden doll
Would look more animated
Than yonder pair, revolving interlaced,
Exchanging commonplaces leaden-paced,