Poem by Rupert Chawner Brooke

Home

 I came back late and tired last night
   Into my little room,
 To the long chair and the firelight
   And comfortable gloom.

 But as I entered softly in
   I saw a woman there,
 The line of neck and cheek and chin,
   The darkness of her hair,
 The form of one I did not know
   Sitting in my chair.

 I stood a moment fierce and still,
   Watching her neck and hair.
 I made a step to her; and saw
   That there was no one there.

 It was some trick of the firelight
   That made me see her there.
 It was a chance of shade and light
   And the cushion in the chair.

 Oh, all you happy over the earth,
   That night, how could I sleep?
 I lay and watched the lonely gloom;
   And watched the moonlight creep
 From wall to basin, round the room.
   All night I could not sleep.

1. The Great Lover
2. Fragment on Painters
3. The Jolly Company
4. Song (The way of love was thus)
5. It's Not Going to Happen Again

Madison Cawein Home ("I dream again I'm in the lane")

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