Backward Mutters

“William and Emily” from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology. My bride and I recited this in a produced recitation of a collection of readings from the work as a whole over twenty years ago.

There is something about
Death like love itself!
If with some one with whom you have known passion
And the glow of youthful love,
You also, after years of life
Together, feel the sinking of the fire,
And thus fade away together,
Gradually, faintly, delicately,
As it were in each other’s arms,
Passing from the familiar room–
There is a power of unison between souls
Like love itself!