Charlotte Mew

“ BESIDE THE BED
SOMEONE has shut the shining eyes, straightened and folded
⁠The wandering hands quietly covering the unquiet breast:
So, smoothed and silenced you lie, like a child, not again to be questioned or scolded;
⁠But, for you, not one of us believes that this is rest.
Not so to close the windows down can cloud and deaden
⁠The blue beyond: or to screen the wavering flame subdue its breath:
Why, if I lay my cheek to your cheek, your grey lips, like dawn, would quiver and redden,
⁠Breaking into the old, odd smile at this fraud of death. ”