The Lovers

They looked at one other breathlessly
and in silence,
the two lovers.
Their eyes were steady
and clear,
but hollow time in passing
heaped darkness in them
and shuddering of tears.

And once, like grass
wedged tightly in a wall,
a word was born,
and then another, then many more:
but every time the voice
resembled a thing dreamed
and heard at night
then surfacing again fainter in daylight.

When not together,
they were like shadows
lengthened by a spell;
They pricked their ears at every sound
and saw each other;
and stood in daylight's grace
against the red of morning face to face.