As once when I stood on the cliff of years
As once when I stood on the cliff of years
Whose plumbless depths filled my heart
The touch of time cold and relentless
Though white winter was so far away.
Many alabaster dawns have passed by
And many pure and splendid dusks too
But the cliff and the abyss are still so near
Like yesterday's dreams in the silent night.
There is a strange beauty in the past
A loveliness in things that are long gone
A longing for things never known
Like the remembrances of unknown images.
I may step out on some golden evening
Somewhere in the future of my life
My breath filled with twilight magic
And my footfall dripping with yearning
For the darkness, and the old deep
The momentary miracle of the dying day
The ancient void, and the stygian black
As once when I stood on the cliff of years
Whose plumbless depths filled my heart.
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