To Quiet the Bitter Heart
Though a far sun should fall,
The custom of its light
Would seem perpetual,
Time being what it is.
The first fine star being down
And life an empty night,
Its ghost still flourishes,
Falling on flesh and stone.
Simple, O single Heart,
This world is all you have
It is the spirit, the part
The spirit plays. Be proud,
You that are hurt. The world
For all its foulness, gave
Strength to keep darkness furled
Within its violent cloud.
Grief that no world can match
The shapes of passionate air
Which your wide pulses catch,
Should not let grief prevail.
This evil world, that slew
The child whose heart you were
Could tell a different tale
Of how it nourished you.
Structure
24 lines · 2 stanzas