Benjamin Rosenbaum

From “Songs of Youth”

SHE is gone!

Gone?

The night was moaning

Under the whip of the wind.

I was off through it,

Throwing myself against its emptiness

As it clutched me

And sent a shiver down my back.

Where were the stars and the moon?—

Some thief had taken them

As he had taken her.

The hairless trees were talking wildly—

They were as mad as I,

But I was speechless.

The lazy hours slowly plodded along,

Until God took pity

And placed a red light in the east,

While Peace sprinkled her flowers everywhere.

And I found her!