The Bust

The Bust written by William Henry Davies

From "Later Days", 1925

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When I went wandering far from home,
I left a woman in my room
To clean my hearth and floor, and dust
My shelves and pictures, books and bust.

When I came back a welcome glow
Burned in her eyes - her voice was low;
And everything was in its place,
As clean and bright as her own face.

But when I looked more closely there,
The dust was on my dark, bronze hair;
The nose and eyebrows too were white -
And yet the lips were clean and bright.

The years have gone, and so has she,
But still the truth remains with me -
How that hard mouth was once kept clean
By living lips that kissed unseen.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.