In the rain

poem

Iris Shaw

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The dearly departed

I forget

Walk past me in the rain, as though my tears

Had veiled their faces and their names;

As if they all were one

And all we were is lost –

And what do you do here? And you?

And you, I half-recall your face;

Tell me, was I in love with it?

I know those eyes, and every line

About that mouth; why would you hide from me?

If you will, make me remember

All the days we sat beneath the sun —

For I will hold you in my mind

Until we earn our truest faces from the gods

And the rain ends at last, and we are warm.