Impressions: A Book of Verse/Meeting after Long Absence: As She Feared It Would Be

MEETING AFTER LONG ABSENCE: AS SHE FEARED IT WOULD BE

HERE in this room, where first we met,
And where we said farewell with tears,
Here, where you swore "Though you forget
My love shall deeper grow with years,"

Here, where the pictures on the wall,
The very rugs upon the floor,
The smallest objects you recall,—
I am awaiting you once more.

The books that we together read,
From off their shelves they beckon me
All here seems living! What is dead?
What is the ghost I fear to see?

Unchanged am I.—Did you despise
My love as "small"—it fills my heart!
You come—a stranger from your eyes
Looks out—and meeting first we part.