My Love Gone and Returned

I stand and wave and watch my love
Sail away upon the seas,
Sail away and leave my side,
Drift away upon the breeze.

So I sit and wait today,
Wait tomorrow in dismay,
Wait a month and wait a year,
‘Till my heart is struck with fear.

Perhaps my love has found another
In a rumored, distant land.
Suppose my love has grown to love her?
Offered her his bachelor’s hand?

Perhaps my love has lost his way,
In a land so cold and new.
Perhaps my love has gone astray
In a place where friends are few.

Perhaps my love has perished there?
How would I live without his care?
I’d surely perish then, with him,
Void of a home, a life to share.

So here I sit and ponder now
As I listen to the clock
The pendulum, the tick and tock
Of his great grandfather clock.

And just as I sink to despair
I hear the clicking of a lock.
But this is strange, it couldn’t be!
The clock still ticks, the wretched clock!

Silence follows, then a step,
Then another, then one more.
The clock still ticks and he still walks
To my side from by the door.

I now look up and see his smile
Though his face looks older now
Than if did when he last left
Smiling, though, strong anyhow.

I now embrace my long-gone love.
I hear now the clock did pause,
Time returned the way it was,
For my misery time did cause.