Poems (Hooper)/To. R. M. H.

by Lucy Hamilton Hooper

TO R. M. H.

I enter sadly in
 That best-lov'd spot
Where thou wert wont to be,
 Where thou art not.
Thy step upon the floor
 Has scarcely died;
The echo of thy voice
 Has just replied.
Yet all around looks sad,
 Deserted, drear,
And plainer says than words,
 Thou art not here!

From yonder wall looks down
 Thy pictured face,
With something of thy smile
 And of thy grace.
Yet though there shine thine eyes,
 There bends thy brow,
I cannot cheat my heart;
 It is not thou!
For when have eyes of thine
 Their calm watch kept,
Nor ever lost their smile
 The while I wept?

Come back, O love of mine!
 Come back again!
Chase from my heart this wild
 And yearning pain.
Bring back Love's golden light
 To Life's drear skies;
Banish the bitter tears
 From these sad eyes.
Here in one prayer I pour—
 Alas, in vain!—
My heart's wild thirst for thee;
 Come back again!
*****
O think of me, darling,
 As I think of you,
All the long day, love,
 And all the night through.
I slumber to dream of thee;
 Wake but to weep.
I never forget thee,
 Not even in sleep.
God keep thee, my darling!
 God guard thee, mine own!
As now thou dost wander
 Afar and alone.
If loving could shield thee,
 Or prayers could avail,
No grief should come near thee,
 No peril assail.

'Tis a week since the moment
 That saw thee depart;
A week by my counting,
 A year by my heart.
That heart holds one sorrow;
 With one hope doth burn:
That grief is thine absence;
 That hope—thy return.