THAT DAY

I stand by the river where both of us stood,

And there is but one shadow to darken the flood:

And the path leading to it, where both used to pass,

Has the step but of one, to take dew from the grass, -

One forlorn since that day.

The flowers of the margin are many to see,

For none stoops at my bidding to pluck them for me;

The bird in the alder sings loudly and long,

For my low sound of weeping disturbs not his song,

As thy vow did that day!

I stand by the river - I think of the vow -

Oh, calm as the place is, vow-breaker, be thou!

I leave the flower growing - the bird, unreproved, -

Would I trouble thee rather than them, my beloved,

And my loving that day?

Go! be sure of my love - by that treason forgiven, -

Of my prayers - by the blessings they win thee from Heaven, -

Of my grief (guess the length of the sword by the sheath's) -

By the silence of life, more pathetic that death's, -

Go, - be clear of that day!

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 - 1861

I love sad poetry and sad, soulful music; it's just the essence of my being, who I am; another 'Romantic'. This was taken from my copy of Lady Geraldine's Courtship and Other Poems, published by Ward, Lock & Bowden Ltd, London, New York, Melbourne and Sydney and the handwritten note reads, To my friend with much love from Maggie, January 6th 1894.