Home . . .

" WE'RE going home!" I heard two lovers say,
⁠They kissed their friends and bade them bright good-byes;
⁠I hid the deadly hunger in my eyes,
And, lest I might have killed them, turned away.
Ah, love, we too once gambolled home as they,
⁠Home from the town with such fair merchandise,
⁠Wine and great grapes the happy lover buys:
A little cosy feast to crown the day.

Yes! we had once a heaven we called a home,
⁠Its empty rooms still haunt me like thine eyes
⁠When the last sunset softly faded there;
Each day I tread each empty haunted room,
⁠And now and then a little baby cries,
⁠Or laughs a lovely laughter worse to bear.