Desolation.

I think that the bitterest sorrow or pain          Of love unrequited, or cold death's woe,          Is sweet compared to that hour when we know              That some grand passion is on the wane;              When we see that the glory and glow and grace          Which lent a splendor to night and day          Are surely fading, and showing the gray              And dull groundwork of the commonplace;              When fond expressions on dull ears fall,          When the hands clasp calmly without one thrill,          When we cannot muster by force of will              The old emotions that came at call;              When the dream has vanished we fain would keep,          When the heart, like a watch, runs out of gear,          And all the savor goes out of the year,              Oh, then is the time - if we can - to weep!              But no tears soften this dull, pale woe;          We must sit and face it with dry, sad eyes.          If we seek to hold it, the swifter joy flies -              We can only be passive, and let it go.