VIGIL
Reading edition
Dark is the night, The fire burns faint and low, Hours—days—years, Into grey ashes go; I strive to read, But sombre is the glow.
Thumbed are the pages, And the print is small; Mocking the winds That from the darkness call; Feeble the fire that lends Its light withal.
O ghost, draw nearer; Let thy shadowy hair, Blot out the pages That we cannot share; Be ours the one last leaf By Fate left bare!
Let's Finis scrawl, And then Life's book put by; Turn each to each In all simplicity: Ere the last flame is gone To warm us by.