Severer Service of myself
I — hastened to demand
To fill the awful Vacuum
Your life had left behind —

I worried Nature with my Wheels
When Hers had ceased to run —
When she had put away Her Work
My own had just begun.

I strove to weary Brain and Bone —
To harass to fatigue
The glittering Retinue of nerves —
Vitality to clog

To some dull comfort Those obtain
Who put a Head away
They knew the Hair to —
And forget the color of the Day —

Affliction would not be appeased —
The Darkness braced as firm
As all my stratagem had been
The Midnight to confirm —

No Drug for Consciousness — can be —
Alternative to die
Is Nature's only Pharmacy
For Being's Malady —