THE SHADE

By Walter de la Mare

Darker than night; and oh, much darker she,

Whose eyes in deep night darkness gaze on me.

No stars surround her; yet the moon seems hid

Afar somewhere, beneath that narrow lid.

She darkens against the darkness; and her face

Only by adding thought to thought I trace,

Limned shadowily: O dream, return once more

To gloomy Hades and the whispering shore!