MONOTONY

Each hot and shaded ember

        lncludes the outer wet.

Let us, my life, dismember

        Our thoughts into regret.

The meaning wind blows colder

        Upon the wetted pane.

Our hearts, alas!, feel older

        In seeking to live again.

The night hurts. Each red ember

        To hotter redness fret!

Alas! When I remember

        I wish I could forget.

What vague and cold gusts enter

        My soul as by a door!

My soul is the living centre

        Of dreams that are no more.

Startle yet more each ember!

        Make the fire nearer yet!

How easy it is to remember

        When memory means regret!

The wetting wind is higher

        All round my senses lone.

My eyes leave not the fire,

        My lips a vague name moan.

Shift uselessly each ember!

        All our soul is regret.

We regret what we remember

        And regret what we forget.

Oh, colder and wilder blowing

        The wind through the wet gloom!

On the grave of my past is glowing

        A red rose in full bloom.

A darkness takes each ember.

        I stir them not, yet fret.

Our life is to remember

        And our wish to forget.

My mystery comes to touch

        My shoulder till I dread.

The red rose is dead. Such

        As I was is now dead.

Could I wish to forget, pale ember,

        Without pining or regret!

Or could I wish to remember

        Without wishing to forget!