Drifting Away

Drifting away from each other,

     Silently drifting apart;

Nothing between but the cold world’s screen,

     Nothing to lose but heart.

Only two lives dividing

     More and more every day;

Only one soul from another soul

     Steadily drifting away.

Only a man’s heart striving

     Bitterly hard with its doom;

Only a hand, tender and bland,

     Slipping away in the gloom.

Nothing of doubt or wrong,

     Nothing that either can cure;

Nothing to shame, nothing to blame,

     Nothing to do but endure.

The world cannot stand still,

     Tides ebb and women change;

Nothing here that is worth a tear,

     One love less – nothing strange.

Drifting away from each other,

     Steadily drifting apart;

No wrong to each that the world can reach,

     Nothing lost but a heart.

c. July 8, 1912