And so it ends

And so it ends,

We who were lovers may be friends.

I have some weeks in which to steel

My heart and teach myself to feel

Only a sober tenderness

Where once was passion's loveliness.

I had not thought that there would come

Your touch to make our music dumb,

Your meeting touch upon the string

That still was vibrant, still could sing

When I impatiently might wait

Or parted from you at the gate.

You took me weak and unprepared.

I had not thought that you who shared

My days, my nights, my heart, my life,

Would slash me with a naked knife

And gently tell me not to bleed

But to accept your crazy creed.

You speak of God, but you have cut

The one last thread, as you have shut

The one last door that open stood

To show me still the way to God.

If this be God, this pain, this evil,

I'd sooner change and try the Devil.

Darling, I thought of nothing mean;

I thought of killing straight and clean.

You're safe; that's gone, that wild caprice,

But tell me once before I cease,

Which does your Church esteem the kinder role,

To kill the body or destroy the soul?