Which of us uttered it? And why? -- This little word that will not die. Nothing has changed. No need to restore That which is as it was before. Now as ever your longings lean To mine across the space between. We talk and laugh; our intimate chat Flutters mothlike from this to that. As you were before, you are to me And I to you. Yet suddenly The simple gesture, smile and glance Assume a sly significance, And both of us know that into the room, Like dank seamist, like breath from a tomb, Has slithered the little ghost of a word One of us uttered, and one of us heard. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WIZARD IN WORDS by MARIANNE MOORE A WOMAN'S LAST WORD by ROBERT BROWNING W'EN I GITS HOME by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR HENRY PURCELL by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS A BALLAD OF THE FRENCH FLEET; OCTOBER, 1746 by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 119 by ALFRED TENNYSON |