Poems (Bell)/Severed

by Clara L. Bell

SEVERED.
(To my friend in a far-away land.)

Living and loving
 Yet ever apart.
God alone knoweth
 The anguish of heart,
Living and loving
 And the weary day
Passes to nothingness.
 Slowly away!

Living and loving
 Always just the same,
Nothing to look to
 Save love that is
Only a name;
 Each striving the battle.
Of life to win,
 For triumph o'er self,
For victory o'er sin.

Living and loving,
 And your home not mine,
Yet our thoughts mingle
 And intertwine,
And the merest thought.
 And the faintest word
From you to me, love,
 Is understood.

How will it be
 On that "other shore"
When life on this earth
 Knows us no more?
Is it true that each
 To the other will be
The same? If this
 Be true, then let me live,
For I know, that living,
 I shall meet you again,
And the thought assuages
 A little of pain.

Living and loving
 I shall feel you near,
Hear you whisper once more:
 "I love you only, dear."
What does it matter
 We cannot say
The words in our hearts
 That come from day to day?

The merest thought,
 And the faintest word
From me to yon, love,
 Is understood.