 | Poems and dramas of George Cabot Lodge |  |
72
[XII
We knew he lived alone with loneliness]
We knew he lived alone with lonelinessDay after day. We did what men could do:
Men could do nothing,—or, at most, a few
Moments persuade him to forgetfulness.
We often smiled—perhaps in sheer excess,
Perhaps because we found him smiling too.
We never wept, and he divinely knew
The love that gave us strength, nevertheless.
In solitude as tho' in dungeon walls
His soul was held sequestered and confined.
We always wondered how it was he bore
The tense intolerable intervals
Wherein he waited, steadfast, breathless, blind,
To hear the hand of Death unlock the door.
| Poems and dramas of George Cabot Lodge | |