Faster than dark, from disillusioned skies

Of sable silk, the stars release their grasp,

Descending into bitter winds that rasp

Against the feathers of a night who flies

Faster than silence born of memories

Mislaid. Forever’s yesterday departs,

Bequeathing loneliness to lonely hearts

That learn their fate belatedly, and frees,

Faster than time, the miseries of lost

Remembrances, of prophecies untold,

Of providence’s unrepentant hold

That falters with the failing of the host.

But even were this fate foretold before

No such collapse could sway the paramour.