by George Bancroft Duren

Dawn breaks with golden splendor on your roof:
Its molten sunbeams drip along the eaves,
Lighting the windows with a morning smile–
Just as they used to.

And starry night with hands invisible
Blots out the gold and blinds the windows’ eyes,
And shadows quicken on your lacquered roof–
Just as they used to.

Daybreak and dusk: they come and go the same.
And yet there is a difference and a pain:
I am not there to greet each sun and moon–
Nor shall I be again.

George Bancroft Duren was an editor of the Newark Evening News where several of his poems first appeared. This one is taken from his collection Earthbound, published in 1926.