By Dr, Jubal Harshaw
(Robert A. Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange Land)
The depths of winter longing are ice within my heart
The shards of broken covenants lie sharp against my soul
The wraiths of long-lost ecstasy keep us two apart
The sullen winds of bitterness still keen from turn to pole
The scars of twisted tendons, the stumps of struck of limbs
The aching pit of hunger and the throb of unset bone,
My sanded burning eyeballs, as light within them dims,
Add nothing to the torment of lying here alone
The shimmering flames of fever trace out your blessed face
My broken eardrums echo your voice inside my head
I do not fear the darkness that comes to me apace
I only dread the loss of you that comes when I am dead.