Then, now and forever

It is you still
and always will
be you, my one and only:
my true love till
the sun stands still,
and life grows cold and lonely —

Yet what you see
now seems to be
a shadow, pow’rless to thrill
’cept in mem’ry —
left-over lees
of sweetness, a bitter pill.

— Now winter’s chill
seeps o’er the sill
of your eyes, where formerly
sunshine would spill
as from a rill
flowing with milk and honey.

— What once flowed free
now stands empty,
the well dry, unwished-for ill;
your love for me
gone, ’cross the sea,
my day done, sun o’er the hill.

But full to nil,
through sorrow’s mill
though I sink, my love for thee
I cannot kill —
hooked through the gill:
a fish caught, ne’er to swim free —

Solitary,
I stand, a tree
bare of leaves, where no bird trills:
no more to be
carefree, happy —
of sadness taking my fill.

— Yet it is still
you, and e’er will
be you, my one and only:
I’ll love you till
the sun stands still —
my love, my life, my cherie —

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