To their gray bough of stone,

Sometimes by twos and threes, sometimes as many as five—

But always they sit there on the narrow coping

Bright-eyed and solemn, scarcely hoping

To see more than what is merely moving and alive....

They hear the couples pass; the lisp of happy feet

Increases and the night grows suddenly sweet....

Before the quiet church that smells of death

They sit.

And Life sweeps past them with a rushing breath