Midnight Lamentation

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.