SHADOWS

You come to me at twilight, when the others,

Are laughing in the fullness of their joy;

When glad-eyed women folk, when wives and mothers,

Are welcoming some other bronze-cheeked boy.

You come to me, all silent, in the gloaming,

A shadow form, with curly shadow hair —

And, dear, I somehow feel that you are roaming

Between two shadow worlds — the Here and There.

They ask me, do those others, why I wander

Down dewy lanes, alone, at eventide —

They do not know my heart's a shadow — yonder...

They do not know that part of me has died.

They do not know that your dear presence stands

Just out of reach with misty, wide-flung hands!