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1874–1932

GRIEF

Robert Winkworth Norwood

My heart is pain, My spirit dearth; Tears are the rain Upon the earth:

And all the over-clouded sky Is not more darkened than am I. A while ago I watched the snow,

And laughed to see Its witchery; Now that your face is turned away, Winter's white magic melts from day.

The casement wide, This wan Yuletide, I opened — heard One little bird

A-piping on a crystalled bough, But he will pipe no longer now; For when he saw The stricken awe

Upon my face, He left his place And winged into the upper air — My visaged grief he could not bear.

A little child, By me beguiled But yesterday From busy play,

This morning hurried from these eyes — He could not look where courage dies! Under the sun Two selves are one:

Sorrow and I! Oh, let me die, And never meet the month of May — Now that your face is turned away!

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GRIEF · Robert Winkworth Norwood · Poetry Cove