Classic Poem

That town
would not be gay
this year
There will be flowers
girls
walking in the streets
In the evening
sure of lovers
who have not forgotten
The need of love
It will be the same
but he who has been there
Will find this thing comes
like a woman asking for love
who is not the woman loved
By what she tells he remembers
but to cross steep bridges
with her again is to grow tired
And to say her name is only to remember her name

He returns not
he is gay
He is stirred by winter
The silence of frozen limbs
is not out of tune
He is no bitter listener for spring
He is no asker of God
To make alive again dead things
He is no warrior on the trail
But a man at home
his door open
seated at his table
Gay as he waits for his guest.