“Only to Lie—”
Only to lie in the evening,
Watching the drifting clouds,
O’er the blue heavens sailing;
Mystical, dreamlike shrouds.
Watching the purple shadows
Filling the woodland glades,
Only to lie in the twilight
Deep in the gathering shade.
Only to lie at midnight,
Climbing the pitch-dark stairs;
Wife at the top of them waiting;
Upwards are rising our hairs.
Only to lie as she asks us—
“Where have you been so late?”
Only to lie with judgment—
“Cars blocked; I had to wait.”