gray and windless sky

there is a quiet in my heart
like one who rests from days of pain.
outside, the sparrows on the roof
are chirping in the dripping rain.

rain in my heart; rain on the roof;
and memory sleeps beneath the gray
and windless sky and brings no dreams
of any well remembered day.

i would not have the heavens fair,
nor golden clouds, nor breezes mild,
but days like this, until my heart
to loss of you is reconciled.

i would not see you. every hope
to know you as you were has ranged.
i, who am altered, would not find
the face i loved so greatly changed.

- edgar lee masters