You left me when the weary weight of sorrow Lay, like a stone, upon my bursting heart; It seemed as if no shimmering tomorrow Could dry the tears that you had caused to start. You left me, never telling why you wandered -- Without a word, without a last caress; Left me with but the love that I had squandered, The husks of love and a vast loneliness. And yet if you came back with arms stretched toward me, Came back tonight, with carefree, smiling eyes, And said: "My journeying has somehow bored me, And love, though broken, never, never dies!" I would forget the wounded heart you gave me, I would forget the bruises on my soul. My old-time gods would rise again to save me; My dreams would grow supremely new and whole. What though youth lay, a tattered garment, o'er you? Warm words would leap upon my lips, long dumb; If you came back, with arms stretched out before you, And told me, dear, that you were glad to come! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE LOON ON FORRESTER'S POND by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE GIANTS OF HISTORY by JAMES GALVIN SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: EUGENIA TODD by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |