If you have come to give me faith in life
Bring to my sad sojourn,
Ascending on the stairway of your love,
The golden key to turn. If you have come to give me faith in death,
Choose then the iron key,
And close the windows to the dawn
That yester-shadows may remain with me. What import to my soul has life or death,
If only it is you that come before,
Gaoler whose key of iron or of gold
Shall violate the secret of my door? And why send forth these words in solitude
To you who perchance will never, on your round,
Waken me with gentle voice or rude
As the chimes of destiny sound. Snow has come after the birds upon the roof.
Alone in this hovel where spectral footfalls mock,
I still await the sorrow or the joy
Of your unknown key turning in the lock.