The Want of You

The want of you is like no other thing;
It smites my soul with sudden sickening;
It binds my being with a wreath of rue-
This want of you.

It flashes on me with the waking sun;
It creeps upon me when the day is done;
It hammers at my heart the long night through-
This want of you.

It sighs within me with the misting skies;
Oh, all the day within my heart it cries,
Old as your absence, yet each moment new
This want of you.

Mad with demand and aching with despair,
It leaps within my heart and you are-
where?

God has forgotten, or he never knew-
This want of you.