Gallant Chateau

Is it bad to have come here
And to have found the bed empty?

One might have found tragic hair,

Bitter eyes, hands hostile and cold.

There might have been a light on a book
Lighting a pitiless verse or two
.

There might have been the immense solitude
Of the wind upon the curtains.


Pitiless verse? A few words tuned
And tuned and tuned and tuned.

It is good. The bed is empty,

The curtains are stiff and prim and still.