Midnight Lamentation

Harold Monro 1879 (Brussels) – 1932




When you and I go down
Breathless and cold,
Our faces both worn back
To earthly mould,
How lonely we shall be!
What shall we do,
You without me,
I without you?

I cannot bear the thought
You, first, may die,
Nor of how you will weep,
Should I.
We are too much alone;
What can we do
To make our bodies one:
You, me; I, you?

We are most nearly born
Of one same kind;
We have the same delight,
The same true mind.
Must we then part, we part;
Is there no way
To keep a beating heart,
And light of day?

I could now rise and run
Through street on street
To where you are breathing–you,
That we might meet,
And that your living voice
Might sound above
Fear, and we two rejoice
Within our love.

How frail the body is,
And we are made
As only in decay
To lean and fade.
I think too much of death;
There is a gloom
When I can’t hear your breath
Calm in some room.

O, but how suddenly
Either may droop;
Countenance be so white,
Body stoop.
Then there may be a place
Where fading flowers
dropp on a lifeless face
Through weeping hours.

Is then nothing safe?
Can we not find
Some everlasting life
In our one mind?
I feel it like disgrace
Only to understand
Your spirit through your word,
Or by your hand.

I cannot find a way
Through love and through;
I cannot reach beyond
Body, to you.
When you or I must go
Down evermore,
There’ll be no more to say
–But a locked door.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

1:22 min read
101

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXABCBC XDXDXCEC XFGFHIHI EJCJKLKL XMIMNONO BPGPQRQR XFXFQSXS ICXCXTIT
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,309
Words 274
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

Harold Monro

Harold Edward Monro was a British poet, the proprietor of the Poetry Bookshop in London which helped many famous poets bring their work before the public. more…

All Harold Monro poems | Harold Monro Books

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