St. Faith's Eve

We stood together on a balcony

An hour when the night

Died into blankness,

And light mist

Curling beneath us, hid the earth,

And the cold, unburied stars

Drew further into space...

I turned to meet your eyes

And saw

Like a light, rosy veil

Your flesh sink gently down

Leaving only the simple skeleton

And a white voice which said:

“This still is I,

Do you love me

Now?”

Quietly, and without sadness

I looked upon you,

For comfort blindly reached my soul

And primitive beauty.

Without passion, without fervour,

I spoke at last:

“Somehow Faith

Shines from your empty eye-holes,

And Truth

Speaks mutely from your fleshless jaws.

I choose your skeleton to lie with

In the peaceful bed of earth

Through all the dreamless, mornless, utter night!”