3864. HEARTBREAK

HEARTBREAK

(1871)

If I make a tolerance for the hazardous ship,

where the port of call does not yet exist,

am I lost then at sea, or just out for a while -

far oceans dividing the blemish of every intention?

Alas, I wait for you at this dismal quay  -  now here,

myself, I am only watching other rocking boats and

there is no real sign of you. I am sick to heart of

having come too late. Some time has passed, I

realize that, but so much has happened while

I was gone : the very boards of these wharves

and platforms have been changed twice over.

I have been gone too far and too long away.

-

If I make allowance for your needing to play,

if I think of myself so long and away, I

can understand  -  I should think  -  why

you are not here. That erstwhile chore boy,

Michael O'Shea, has stolen your heart

while I was away. Alas, I was gone,

on the sea, for one day too late, and

now it would seem I must pay.