IN THAT DARK SILENT HOUR
by: John Freeman
- N that dark
silent hour
- When the wind wants power,
- And in the black height
- The sky wants light,
- Stirless and black
- In utter lack,
- And not a sound
- Escapes from that untroubled round:--
- To wake then
- In the dark, and ache then
- Until the dark is gone--
- Lonely, yet not alone;
- Hearing another's breath,
- Knowing one sleeps near
- That day held dear
-
- And dreams held dear; but now
- In this sharp moment--how
- Share the moment's sweetness,
- Forego its completeness,
- Nor be alone
- Now the dark is grown
- Spritual and deep
- More than in dreams and sleep?
-
- O, it is pain, 'tis need
- That so will plead
- For a little loneliness.
- If it be pain to miss
- Loved touch, look and lip,
- Companionship
- Yet is verier pain
- Then, then
- In that dark silent hour
- When the wind wants power,
- And you, near or far, sleep,
- And your released thoughts towards me creep,
- While I, imprisoned, awake,
- Ache--ache
- To be for one
- Long, little moment with myself alone.
'In That Dark Silent Hour' is reprinted
from An Anthology of Modern Verse. Ed. A. Methuen. London:
Methuen & Co., 1921. |
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