The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (4.1895)

Home . . .

By Richard Le Gallienne

“ A Ä /£,RE g°ing home ! ” I heard two lovers say,

y y They kissed their friends and bade them bright
good-byes ;

I hid the deadly hunger in my eyes,

And, lest I might have killed them, turned away.

Ah, love, we too once gambolled home as they,

Home from the town with such fair merchandise,—

Wine and great grapes—the happy lover buys :

A little cosy feast to crown the day.

Yes ! we had once a heaven we called a home,

Its empty rooms still haunt me like thine eyes
When the last sunset softly faded there ;

Each day I tread each empty haunted room,

And now and then a little baby cries,

Or laughs a lovely laughter worse to bear.