Absence (Aldington)
Day after day fades from me,
Each one cold and wan
Because you are not near me.
Night after night drifts past,
Cheerless, indifferent,
Because you are not with me,
Because I have not your lips to burn me
Awake to a great rapture,
Because you are not gripping me close to you,
Because your eyes are not looking into mine
With the keen entreaty of desire,
Because the loveliness of your flesh is denied me,
Because each night I lie alone.
I am fierce, indignant, humiliated—
To be chained away from you
When I desire you above all things.
Half I possess you, half hold you, half keep you;
But would all of you satisfy my desire?
I am insatiate, desperate—
Death, if need be, or you near me,
Loving me, beautifully piercing me to life,
But not this, not this bitterness, this grief,
This long torture of absence.
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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923.
The author died in 1962, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 30 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. |
