FROM MY ROOM

I love you, dear....

Here, alone in my room tonight, it is all that matters,

Out through my window, vaguely hushed, the city clatters,

Telling ever its tale of woe and mirth,

Sighing ever its song of death and birth,

Singing ever its potent, mad refrain,

Swept with tears and the bitter weight of pain.

Here in my room I kneel, alone, to pray,

But there seems very little, dear, to say

Even to God. So, kneeling by my bed,

I think dim thoughts, and dream long dreams instead.

Wide-eyed I kneel and watch the candle flame,

Making swift shadows on the wall; your name

Throbs in my heart, and makes my pulse to thrill —

Wide-eyed I kneel, with soul a-light, until

Somewhere a clock starts chiming.... It is late....

Out through the dark wan tenderness and hate

Press pale kisses upon the city's lips —

Dawn comes creeping, the weary nighttime slips

Furtively by, like some hurt thief with plunder....

Dear, I cross to my window, and I wonder

Whether you are asleep, or if you lie,

Sleepless beneath the smoke-hung purple sky....

Down in the streets the tired city vaguely clatters,

Here alone in my room I stand, and nothing matters,

Only.... I love you!