Xxix

You spoke that evening words so beautiful That even the flowers, leaning on the breeze, Suddenly loved us so that one of them, To touch us both, fell down upon our knees.

You spoke of the near time when our two lives, Like too-ripe fruits, would be upgathered, And how the tocsin of our fate would knell, And love be with us still, though youth had fled.

Your voice was round me like a close embrace, Your burning heart so quiet and so brave, I would have seen unfold without a fear The winding road that leads toward the grave.