To-night I cannot know you and I weep
For sorrow that’s upon you like soft sleep
Of which alone you are the one possessed ---
And as one in long stuff of mourning dressed ---
Drenched deep in garments that take shape of grief
Fold on heavy fold, as leaf on leaf.
You stand, all tremulous with stifled cries,
And with chill tears like glass upon your eyes.
Thin shadows, darker than the darkness boil
With foamy somnolence and monstrous toil
The solemn lisping of untimely things
Approaches; and on high lamenting wings
Cold time screams past us, shedding sparks of pain 
Of which you are the core and the refrain.



 = Heather C. Liston