"Was it so long?"
"Long as grief, cold as the stone above your grave, empty as the noonday sky!"
"Oh! how was it empty, when I left the cup brimming over for you? Heart-of-mine, whom met you by the way?"
"Only a man, crippled in the mire, cursing as he struggled. I shut my ears against his foul speech and passed on."
"Oh! if it were my brother, whom you should have helped! whom else?"
"Only a woman, bowed under a burden; my own was more than I could bear, and I let her be."
"Alas! if it were my sister, and in her pack the balm that should have healed you! Whom else again?"
"None else, save children: they cried about my path, but how could I stay for them while you waited?"
"Alas! if among the children were those I might not bear to you! And fare you well, Heart-of-mine, for I must be gone, and now the time is long indeed."
"Oh! whither, Beloved of my soul, from my arms that clasp yet cannot hold you?"