Due Time

Bound for your distant homeland's shore
You left behind a foreign clime
How long I wept before your eyes,
That unforgotten, grievous time.
Hands growing colder as they tried
To hold you back with me a spell,
My cry prayed you and heaven not
To break the anguish of farewell.

But from that moment's bitter kiss
You tore away at last your face,
Out of a land of sullen exile
You called me to a different place.
You said «When once again we meet
Beneath a sky forever blue,
By shade of olive trees, the kiss
Of love shall reunite us two.»

But there, alas, where arching heavens
Shine in a sparkle blue and deep
Where olives shaded quiet waters
You fell into the final sleep.
Now all your beauty, your ordeals
Are gone into the grave with you —
And gone with them reunion's kiss But I still wait. It still is due.