I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day.
What hours, O what black hours we have spentĀ
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!Ā
And more must, in yet longer light's delay.Ā Ā
With witness I speak this. But where I sayĀ
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lamentĀ
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sentĀ
To dearest him that lives alas! away.Ā Ā
I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decreeĀ
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;Ā
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.Ā
Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I seeĀ
The lost are like this, and their scourge to beĀ
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.Ā