Classic Poem

O Love , if you were here
— This dreary, weary day, —
If your lips, warm and dear,
— Found some sweet word to say, —
Then hardly would seem drear
— These skies of wintry gray.

But you are far away, —
— How far from me, my dear!
What cheer can warm the day?
— My heart is chill with fear,
Pierced through with swift dismay;
— A thought has turned Life sere:

If you, from far away,
— Should come not back, my dear:
If I no more might lay
— My hand on yours, nor hear
That voice, now sad, now gay,
— Caress my listening ear;

If you, from far away,
— Should come no more, my dear, —
Then with what dire dismay
— Year joined to hostile year
Would frown, if I should stay
— Where memories mock and jeer!

But I would come away
— To dwell with you, my dear;
Through unknown worlds to stray, —
— Or sleep; nor hope, nor fear,
Nor dream beneath the clay
— Of all our days that were.