The Dead Friend

When you were alive, at least,
There were days I never met you.
In the study, at the feast,
By the hearth, I could forget you.

Moods there were of many days
When, methinks, I did not mind you.
Now, oh now, in any place
Wheresoe'er I go, I find you!

You... but how profoundly changed,
O you dear-belov'd dead woman!
Made mysterious and estranged,
All-pervading, superhuman.

Ah! to meet you as of yore,
Kind, alert, and quick to laughter:
You, the friend I loved Before;
Not this tragic friend of After.