Horrible sadness overcomes my heart
To which I am susceptible. Go not
From me, my beautiful, that art so sweet,
Go not away, but rest in tranquil slumber,
Here with me as eternal this our slot,
Except I know, as time brings hope defeat,
That even will these moments reach their number,
And then, we from each other, have to part.
Go not from me. Yet linger in repose,
While yet the time abides, that doesn’t hurry,
Leisurely breathing of the luxury
We have today, free of distraught and worry,
Keeping each other gentle company
Before the hours must hasten to a close.
Let not the hour come on—let not the time
Press forward as this moment must disturb,
While here, enraptured, I caress, and wait,
Though even just a knock upon the door
May come, as urbanites within our urb,
Our juxtaposition perfect to deflate
With pressing matter as come to implore
Demanding of attention, like the chime
Of clock to signal some appointment—it’s
A dreadful premonition, still the sound
Intrudes upon my mind, and I regret
That I must be aware, aware profound
That time is fleet, and all the best we get
Must vanish—forward movement never quits.
Only in mind, as lingering on some verse
May we enjoy illusion that have ceased
The flow of time—yet lingered on too often,
We grow dependent, and accustomed to
Inebriation whereby woe’s increased
When we must break from it; for so we soften
Our sensibility more than to do
Ought be called healthy: timestop is a hearse.
Go not from me, my darling one. Go not,
Because I feel my heart will have to break,
As even mind, because of its foredwelling
Minutest fractures have begun to make,
Even as sorrow rises past my quelling,
And if it rise too high, the moment blot.
I hear the clock: the sound is never gone
Out of my head, while even as we rest
Melted together on the sofa, so
Peaceful the throws and pillows thus among
As lightly into one another pressed--
Even within the moment, still I know
As hearing in my mind clock’s dong, dong, dong,
That time will chime its anthem, done, done, done,
From which I not recover. So it be
The moment have to pass. Lie still. Sweet hush
Come over us, no talking interpose
As cause the fleeting minutes forward rush,
While here in silence, it seems that time slows
If to a narrow crawl. Go not from me.