Midnight struck: and so it was April now;
And in the quietness of that room we shared
I wondered whether I should tell you how
Daffodils were in bloom. Would you have cared,

Buried beneath drifts of morphine, to know
The thaw had come, the snows had melted, spring
Was here? They can hear you, said some nurse; so
I whispered loud against your unhearing

(For I was not deceived) such lover’s words
As once I did when you would lie awake
(For I was not deceived) and, April birds
Discovering dawn, we made love at daybreak.

It was our game that you would not answer,
Feigning sleep until desire was ready
As a tight bud to burst. Now your cancer,
And that expensive pump, kept you from me

Unfeigningly. Those minutes more you had,
I listened to your breathing in that room
And could not speak. Your rattle said, I’m glad.
Then quietness ceased, your skin in yellow bloom.