Last Days

Ah! heartbreak of the tattered hills, And heartache of the autumn sky! Heartbreak and heartache, since God wills, Are mine, and God knows why!

I held one dearer than each day Of life God sets in sunny gold-- But Death hath ta’en that gem away, And left me poor and old.

The heartbreak of the hills is mine, Of trampled twig and rain-beat leaf, Of wind that sobs through thorn and pine An unavailing grief.

The sorrow of the loveless skies’ “Farewells” are wild as those I said When last I kissed my child’s blue eyes And lips, ice-dumb and dead.