Time, love, memory

The names in sand that blew away too soon;
the clouds that drifted to obscure the moon;
the summer wind that withered all the grass:
all these, and more, I knew would come to pass.

But what I never understood would be -
the fading of the charm of memory;
your face receding in a gathering dark;
your features fading to a blurry mark.

Your tender gaze, that once would bring a flush
of tingling joy to feel your first shy blush
of love, that held my world in warm embrace,
is sinking now into a darker place -

a place where dreams and nightmares both collude
in shading out my life to sadder mood
in which, I know, I shall no longer see
aught but these shades of grey in wait for me.

Ah, if I could but resurrect the past
from icy graves where time has gripped it fast,
my life would rise again in pulsing blood,
united with your love, in joyous flood.