While That Night Was Darker Than Anything (Cavatina Sequence) Poem by Gert Strydom

(after Edwin Arlington Robinson)

Where shadows were creeping over the wall
in twilight skies
there I waited at her favourite spot
dusk caught my eyes
while in the garden I did remember
a paradise,
intensely I wished her to come,
I really wished for her to be home

but who can break that devastating spell
of utter death
from the place of eternal lifeless rest,
had she bequeath
a lingering presence I wondered;
I felt her breath,
but it only could have been the breeze stirring
while that night was darker than anything.

I was however still yearning for her,
for a sweet kiss,
as without her my life felt really lost,
her I did miss,
did not know which way to go from right here;
in how life is
love still was fresh and was still lingering
as if greater than any other thing.

[Reference: “Luke Havergal” by Edwin Arlington Robinson.]