PARTED
Reading edition
O why hast thou left me To sink in the night? The gray wind hath called me, And gathered me quite, And the great world is cold and bereft of thy light. Dear, what gateway unbars That thou com’st not at all? Hast thou fled to the stars That thou hear’st not my call? For the earth is all silent and black like a pall. Sweet, of thy glory I drank in the dawning. Sweetest, thy memory Slays me with longing. May not a word of thee lessen my mourning? The air, which erewhile Breathed low with thy voice, Now fans me with subtle Rank poisonous choice— To live in thine absence, or in death to rejoice.