SAY SOMETHING TO ME

Say something to me! I've waited so long —

Waited and wondered in vain;

Only a sentence would fall like a song

Over this listening pain —

Over a silence that glowers and frowns,—

Even my pencil to-night

Slips in the dews of my sorrow and wounds

Each tender word that I write.

Say something to me — if only to tell

Me you remember the past;

Let the sweet words, like the notes of a bell,

Ring out my vigil at last.

O it were better, far better than this

Doubt and distrust in the breast,—

For in the wine of a fanciful kiss

I could taste Heaven, and — rest.

Say something to me! I kneel and I plead,

In my wild need, for a word;

If my poor heart from this silence were freed,

I could soar up like a bird

In the glad morning, and twitter and sing,

Carol and warble and cry

Blithe as the lark as he cruises awing

Over the deeps of the sky.