Cross Roads

FORGIVEN

     You left me when the weary weight of sorrow
        Lay, like a stone, upon my bursting heart;
     It seemed as if no shimmering tomorrow
        Could dry the tears that you had caused to start.
     You left me, never telling why you wandered—
        Without a word, without a last caress;
     Left me with but the love that I had squandered,
        The husks of love and a vast loneliness.

     And yet if you came back with arms stretched toward
           me,
        Came back to-night, with carefree, smiling eyes,
     And said: "My journeying has somehow bored me,
        And love, though broken, never, never dies!"
     I would forget the wounded heart you gave me,
        I would forget the bruises on my soul.
     My old-time gods would rise again to save me,
        My dreams would grow supremely new and whole.
     What though youth lay, a tattered garment, o'er you?
        Warm words would leap upon my lips, long dumb;
     If you came back, with arms stretched out before
           you,
        AND TOLD ME, DEAR, THAT YOU WERE GLAD TO COME!