Robert William Service

Premonition

'Twas a year ago and the moon was bright
   (Oh, I remember so well, so well);
I walked with my love in a sea of light,
   And the voice of my sweet was a silver bell.

      And sudden the moon grew strangely dull,
         And sudden my love had taken wing;
      I looked on the face of a grinning skull,
         I strained to my heart a ghastly thing.

'Twas but fantasy, for my love lay still
   In my arms, with her tender eyes aglow,
And she wondered why my lips were chill,
   Why I was silent and kissed her so.

      A year has gone and the moon is bright,
         A gibbous moon, like a ghost of woe;
      I sit by a new-made grave to-night,
         And my heart is broken -- it's strange, you know.