The Hushed House

I, who went at nightfall, came again at dawn; On Love’s door again I knocked.—Love was gone. He who oft had bade me in, now would bid no more; Silence sat within his house; barred its door. When the slow door opened wide through it I could see How the emptiness within stared at me. Through the dreary chambers, long I sought and sighed, But no answering footstep came; naught replied. Then at last I entered, dim, a darkened room: There a taper glimmered gray in the gloom. And I saw one lying crowned with helichrys; Never saw I face as fair as was his. Like a wintry lily was his brow in hue; And his cheeks were each a rose, wintry, too. Then my soul remembered all that made us part, And what I had laughed at once—broke my heart.