There’s a glow in the sky this morning,
A pink, red-tinted glow,
But what will I do with the day to come,
I really wouldn’t know,
You left on your final journey
When the night was still at last,
And everything that we knew and loved
Has now become the past.

I woke to the timbers creaking in
Our old house by the lake,
All else, a deafening silence
When you should have been awake.
I turned to you in our marriage bed
And I said, ‘I’m feeling old!’
But you lay still in the morning chill
And God, but your hands were cold!

What will I tell the children?
What will I tell our friends?
You left with never a word for me
Or a chance to make amends.
I didn’t think that the day would come
When you’d turn, and leave me blind,
But I awoke to the morning glow
And you’d left me far behind.

What will I do with the days ahead
As your figure fades from view,
With all the memories gone at last
Of the years that I spent with you?
I can’t imagine a single day
When I’ll never hear you speak,
As I kiss your lips and your fingertips
And my tears fall on your cheek.

David Lewis Paget