Like a sleep the thought of you
Falls about me, stills my breath
Softlier than winds of death.
Hushed is everything I knew.
Lost are the gold light in the eyes,
Blossoms, and rain, and things that shine;
The warm astonishment of wine,
The blue air snowing with butterflies;
Even the vibrant wind’s sweet calls,
The silken rush of waterfalls,
And laughter and song, that swifter pass
Than the green rainy lights in grass.
I loved these. These have paled as ships
Drifting in darkness out to sea
Glimmer and fade, mysteriously.
What words were there? What touch of lips?
What hair has weighed upon my breast?
I have forgotten these in sleep
Buried in silences more deep
Than the far places of the west,
And like a slow pale stream of light,
White towers of sleep loom in the night.