Classic Poem

Where you have once lived the house will never be empty.
When you go away, you leave behind what was not there before.
Others may look for you, they will go through rooms saying,
She is not here, she has gone away, she has closed the door.

And when they have left your room I shall come to find you.
I shall sit at your window looking across the bay;
I shall watch the evening light on the distant islands.
“How the light transfigures all that it touches,” I shall hear you say.

This was our home. Though we cannot possess it forever,
The happiness that we have had will always remain,
Strong as the dark hills that shoulder the sunrise,
Sharp as the salt wind, as the smell of pine in the drip of the rain.

This we shall have to remember when all is over,
Joy, like a flight of sails in the morning sun,
Memory, clear as the far blue line of distance,
Bright as the flame of the marching trees when the summer is done.

I shall sit and watch till night changes the waters
From blue to silver, from silver to shining steel.
The moon will lift a pale white face to the window,
I shall not be alone. You will be there; you will know what I feel.