4510652Poems — Dead LoveMartha A. Smith

DEAD LOVE.


It comes too late, that smile alluring;
Too late for me the smothered sigh;
The love is dead, so long enduring,
For one who passed me coldly by.

Too late to bridge the deep gulf over;
Closed the floodgate to the heart;
There is a grief too deep for weeping,
Where never more the teardrops start.

Think not the void within my heart
Can be filled with golden treasure:
The gift of love might do a part
To bridge this deep gulf over.

Years of agony have chilled a heart
Love long for thee enduring.
Now rent apart no teardrops start
O'er the grave of this lost feeling.

Sorrows turn the heart to stone,—
Leave it bleeding, rent asunder.
Griefs that let no teardrops start
Have left me of that number.

Memory dwells o'er the happy past:
Oft fancy there would linger;
Heart would leap, and love repeat;
Alas, now fled forever!

Then wonder not, for every heart
Sooner or later may discover
It was not well to tear apart
Love once lost is lost forever.