I Watch the Light

I watch the light most tenderly caress,

Not burning now but soft in early morn,

The dogwoods in their gold and russet dress

And nothing is distraught or left forlorn.

It would seem that I in solitude am lone,

No more the bright companion at my side

Through whom the days so wonder-filled are flown

And though the seasons change remains my bride.

But now I feel a calling to relieve

The soul that long has known the emptiness

And years of greyness when the heart did grieve

For one more smile or one last sweet caress.

We must move on no longer chained to the past

That stifles and would stay our soul's advance,

Always to grow, for all we have amassed

Is nothing but a faint and fleeting glance

Of what shall be when shorn of all desire

For outward goals and lust for wealth and power,

God in us become a raging fire

To burn the dross in his approaching hour.