With sweet Regret – (the dearest thing that Yesterday has left us) –
We often turn our homeless eyes to scenes whence Fate has reft us.
Here sitting by a fading flame, wild waifs of song remind me
Of Annie with her gentle ways, the Girl I left behind me.
I stood beside the surging sea, with lips of silent passion –
I faced you by the surging sea, O brows of mild repression!
I never said – “my darling, stay!” – the moments seemed to bind me
To something stifling all my words for the Girl I left behind me.
The pathos worn by common things – by every wayside flower,
Or Autumn leaf on lonely winds, revives the parting hour.
Ye swooning thoughts without a voice – ye tears which rose to blind me,
Why did she fade into the Dark, the Girl I left behind me.
At night they always come to me, the tender and true-hearted;
And in my dreams we join again the hands which now are parted;
And, looking through the gates of Sleep, the pleasant Moon doth find me
For ever wandering with my Love, the Girl I left behind me.
You know my life is incomplete, O far-off faint Ideal!
When shall I reach you from a depth of darkness which is real?
So I may mingle, soul in soul, with her that Heaven assigned me;
So she may lean upon my love, the Girl I left behind me.
(Henry Kendall)
More Poetry from Henry Kendall:
Henry Kendall Poems based on Topics: Life, Night, Love, Flowers, Soul, Sleep, Romantic Love, Ideal- The Sydney International Exhibition (Henry Kendall Poems)
- Euterpe: A Cantanta (Henry Kendall Poems)
- A Death in the Bush (Henry Kendall Poems)
- The Voyage of Telegonus (Henry Kendall Poems)
- The Glen of Arrawatta (Henry Kendall Poems)
- Leaves from Australian Forests (12 Sonnets) (Henry Kendall Poems)