bear me this
“They say that “time assuages,”---
Time never did assuage;
An actual suffering strengthens,
As sinews do, with age

Time is a test of trouble,
But not a remedy
If such it prove, it prove too
There was no malady.”

Emily Dickinson c1863



my dear friend
if this be true
if Time will not make this
actual suffering lessen
then what am I to do

I fear for my heart this hour
will it rise above
the true malady I suffer
what do I know of love

I need the remedy you speak of
if I’m to carry on
assuage my angst
contain my fear
hear my mournful song

can I see the sinews
strengthen as you say
an atrophied muscle
upon my chest doth lay

you know so much of life my friend
your wisdom rings so true
tell me now
that time assuages
I must hear this from you

you are no more your words have made
their mark upon my soul
the test of time is all that’s left
in my world left so afoul

so I shall wait upon my fate
for time to test this trouble
holding tight this broken heart
love lost amid the rubble

I pray that you are wrong my friend
time surely must assuage
I am bereft without this hope
my blood spilt on this page

josephine m wootten c2002