Bereavement

What words have I for thee o'er whom I bow,
Whose soul has reached the undiscovered land?
In densest midnight of my life I stand, —
The light which lightened it is darkened now.
Thy love cruel Death would not to me allow;
Once more went forth the inexorable command.
And in thy place he sets at my right hand
A still sad ghost, thine absence to avow.

To-day I look away from Death, and see
The bitter days thy love sustained me through;
Bright days thy love made brighter — let them be;
I move about a world I never knew —
A sunless, soulless world that knows not thee
From whose dear life my life took strength and grew.