With sweet Regret — (the dearest thing that Yesterday has left us) — <br />We often turn our homeless eyes to scenes whence Fate has reft us. <br />Here sitting by a fading flame, wild waifs of song remind me <br />Of Annie with her gentle ways, the Girl I left behind me. <br /> <br />I stood beside the surging sea, with lips of silent passion — <br />I faced you by the surging sea, O brows of mild repression! <br />I never said — “my darling, stay!” — the moments seemed to bind me <br />To something stifling all my words for the Girl I left behind me. <br /> <br />The pathos worn by common things — by every wayside flower, <br />Or Autumn leaf on lonely winds, revives the parting hour. <br />Ye swooning thoughts without a voice — ye tears which rose to blind me, <br />Why did she fade into the Dark, the Girl I left behind me. <br /> <br />At night they always come to me, the tender and true-hearted; <br />And in my dreams we join again the hands which now are parted; <br />And, looking through the gates of Sleep, the pleasant Moon doth find me <br />For ever wandering with my Love, the Girl I left behind me. <br /> <br />You know my life is incomplete, O far-off faint Ideal! <br />When shall I reach you from a depth of darkness which is real? <br />So I may mingle, soul in soul, with her that Heaven assigned me; <br />So she may lean upon my love, the Girl I left behind me.<br /><br />Henry Kendall<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-girl-i-left-behind-me/
