She wept for the sky over sea full of stars,

Or for weariness, or for good friends,

All three being together in one place.

Or wept knowing life is what it spends.

Yet by firelight no tears ran down her face.

I saw her tight mouth trying to smile,

Like a dry throat trying to speak,

And it could not, and I turned away .

She wept for strength that left her weak,

Or for knowing words no word would say.

Or she wept inward for thousands

Under stars somewhere with nothing or dead.

She knew. But kept it. It was her grief

And there was nothing she could have said

To help me, and there was nothing for relief

But to stand under that shore of stars,

On the edge of that island, hearing water

Reach and rise against northern stone .

And I tasted smoke from the fire, bitter,

Thrust out from her crowded grief, alone.