In Absence

Last night I read your letters once again —
Read till the dawn filled all my room with grey;
Then quenched my light and put the leaves away,
And prayed for sleep to ease my heart's great pain.
But ah ! that poignant tenderness made vain
My hope of rest — I could not sleep or pray
For thought of you, and the slow, broadening day
Held me there prisoner of my throbbing brain.

Yet I did sleep before the silence broke,
And dream, but not of you — the old dreams rife
With duties which would bind me to the yoke
Of my old futile, lone, reluctant life :
I stretched my hands for help in the vain strife,
And grasped these leaves, and to this pain awoke.