Day That I Have Loved
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TENDERLY, day that I have loved, I close your eyes,And smooth your quiet brow, and fold your thin dead hands.The grey veils of the half-light deepen; colour dies.I bear you, a light burden, to the shrouded sands, Where lies your waiting boat, by wreaths of thesea’s makingMist-garlanded, with all grey weeds of the watercrowned._ There you'll be laid, past fear of sleep or hope ofwaking; ,And over the unmoving sea, without a sound, Faint hands will row you outward, out beyond oursight,Us with stretched arms and empty eyes on thefar-gleamingAnd marble sand... .Beyond the shifting cold twilight,Further than laughter goes, or tears, further thandreaming,There’l! be no port, no dawn-lit islands! But thedrear 23 Waste darkening, and, at length, flame ultimateon the deep.Oh, the last fire—and you, unkissed, unfriendedthere!Oh, the lone way’s red ending, and we not thereto weep! (We found you pale and quiet, and strangelycrowned with flowers,Lovely and secret as a child. You came with us,Came happily, hand in hand with the young dancinghours,High on the downs at dawn!) Void now andtenebrous, The grey sands curve before me. .. .From the inland meadows,Fragrant of June and clover, floats the dark, andfillsThe hollow sea’s dead face with little creepingshadows,And the white silence brims the hollow of thehills. Close in the nest is folded every weary wing,Hushed all the joyful voices; and we, who heldyou dear,Eastward we turn and homeward, alone, remember-We. ssDay that I loved, day that I loved, the Night ishere! 24
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