Remembrance

When the loud day for men who sow and

Grows still, and on the silence of the

The unsubstantial veils of night and sleep,

The meed of the day's labour, settle down,

Then for me in the stillness of the

The wasting, watchful hours drag on their course,

And in the idle darkness comes the

Of all the burning serpents of remorse;

Dreams seethe; and fretful

Are swarming in my over-burdened soul,

And Memory before my wakeful

With noiseless hand unwinds her lengthy scroll.

Then, as with loathing I peruse the years,

I tremble, and I curse my natal day,

Wail bitterly, and bitterly shed tears,

But cannot wash the woeful script away.