Solitude

“Solitude”

If by your solitude I am graced—
There would be no sweeter taste
Than to be lonely—lonely with you
Than to be dying—only with you.

O! If by your solitude, I am blessed to die,
What Heaven shall be mine!
No new earth, and no unknown sky
Could such a bliss define.

Years may pass in but an hour of our moonlight,
We, caged birds, singing to the naked trees
Of what now are merely memories,
Of what had been the gift and terror of flight.

May we be lonely? Starve together on shadows
While our wings on troubled hearts enclose:
They will sing of us in the dark that no-one knows,
At the crossroads where no-one goes.

Say you’re an angel to my heart in Hell,
And that your song can make us well.
I am storms—and on your wings I am rain.
And your voice is the sun that will shine again.

What roses from our slumber hall grow?
What blossoms shall wilt as though with sorrow?
In that solitude, when the grounds around us close
I shall reach for you. I shall reach for the rose.

And in the dark, where our minds kiss in the stargaze,
Where the garden in silence decays,
We will sleep where no light may intrude.
We will sleep, ah! We shall sleep in the solitude.

© 2022 Marten Hoyle