The Young Man's Lament

Night was on the town, when I
Found the hydrangea wet and white.
— And those streets, those streets
I walk alone, the peace
like a maple tree —
Ah! blossom white, I look at you,
and sadness shines on me.

The streetlights fade in the maple leaves,
The hydrangea cool and bare;
The lantern-man the meadow lights,
And aloneness stalks the air.

O raven town I walk alone,
Where summer hangs like a bloom,
And the good girls sleep
in their linen beds,
And I alone in my room.

Ah! lantern-man, I curse your light,
and the night that follows you there —
Alone is my love in her linen bed
Like hydrangea
white and bare.