Swifter Than The Day

Oh, my love; lonely is the grave.

Keep the gift that the water gave:

Silver pearls, buried once in sand;

Thread them now on a golden strand.



Once I laughed, and again you sang;

Sunlight danced, and all the shadows rang.

Now the moon shines icy on your face,

Withered flowers, torn and tattered lace.



Tall oaks grow where you laid my grave,

Leave me cold in the whispering shade.

Oh my love, as you turn away,

Silver pearls bleed silent into grey.



Autumn comes, and all the swaying trees

Rusty shine, and all their sighing leaves

Paint the world in splendor, I was told;

I see blood, crimson, never gold.



Years run on, swifter than the day

I first saw the singing shadows play

Copper-gold, the fire hanging there:

Light was caught, eternal, in your hair.



Grey rain falls, quenching all the light,

Red leaves drown, this All Hallows night.

Formless candles twine a crown for me;

King of Sorrow, lord of Memory.