Ah, Memory

In this happy sanctuary where the green

Through grasses flows to break out in the leaves

Uncompanioned I walk where once her feet had been,

Her hair dancing in the faintest breeze

Her eyes like diamonds set in sparkling seas.

There floats to me the fragrance of peonies

Mingled with the roses in the air,

The passion-calls of cardinals in the trees

The mourning doves descending pair by pair

As I face the sorrow I alone must bear.

Ah memory, you mix our joy with pain.

With elegies you tint the morning song,

For all our lives are found in your domain.

You rain alike upon the weak and strong

To the past and not the future you belong.