Our childhood vow a holy trust --
betrayed but once & all was lost
& we forevermore accursed.

Never could we be apart,
we invoked the lover's art,
devouring each the other's heart.

No lord of earth or beast of hell
could chasten what we were or quell
the storm that held our soul or tell

the thing that drew us both as one,
darkening our sun & moon --
utterly we were alone --

yet after all the ruinous cost,
for all I strove to hold her fast,
like any mortal she was lost.

Insensibly I paced the moor,
howled my craven heart, a cur
shriven by a cruel allure

until, in a dim, dismal place,
I plunge a muddy spade, expose
a coffin, a shrouded face.

Years have passed -- still I wait,
empty glass, empty plate,
embers crumble through the grate.

The wind tonight unties the trees,
makes the shepherd draw the fleece
about his ears -- a strange unease

possesses me, I faintly hear
a broken wail upon the moor
forsaken as the damned -- I swear,

a moment at the window as
I raise my eyes I see her pass,
shadowy beyond the glass,

but I have kept too long alone --
I know no longer what is known,
cannot tell a shade from stone,

cannot tell the day from night --
I keep the doorway bolted tight --
I live my life by candlelight.

Endlessly from west & north
cold & darkness issue forth,
beneath the door, across the hearth.

The wind sustains a piercing note,
I wrap myself within a coat,
I pull the collar to my throat.

Over, over again,
drum upon the windowpane
frenzied fists, driving rain.