Thy pledges have all been violated, and thy reputation is shining brightly; The speaker has just mentioned how he feels "now," and he is still speaking in the present tense. The poem appears to be drifting away from what happened then (when they split) and toward the ramifications of that parting. This may be deliberate on the part of the poet. The first thing you should know about this poem is that it isn't about love at first sight. It's about love that blossoms over time under certain circumstances. In this case, the circumstances are military service, which was a binding commitment for several years. During this time, the lovers were separated but not divorced, so their vows remained intact. When the war ended, however, there was no hope of reconciliation because the lover who had spoken earlier had already died. Even so, the poet keeps referring to them as "we" rather than "he" or "she," showing that they were more than just friends. This proves that they had some kind of relationship beyond friendship. Love is life, and without it nothing else matters. However, love is not blind. We see examples of this in real life every day. People don't always fall in love at first sight, but once they do, everything around them changes. They start acting differently, thinking differently, and sometimes even looking different. All of this is done out of respect for that person.