I feel as though my heart must stop with pain

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.
I miss you so, the darkness will not pale.
My darling child, come to me again.

I know you cannot come, and still I strain
To put my arms around you through the veil.
I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

Other lives and loves call me in vain.
I try to turn away from you and fail.
My darling child, come to me again.

You are my unendurable refrain.
Back and back I hurry to impale
My heart on you, to stop my heart with pain.

Yet nothing that I do undoes the plain
Brutal fact which always must prevail.
Ah, my darling, come to me again!

You are both my sunshine and my rain,
My dearest joy, my anguish, and my grail.
I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.
My darling child, come to me again.

---Nicholas Gordon