Edythe Mae Gordon, "I Understand" (1929)
I did not understand
I only knew
That ere he turned to go
His eyes strayed to the Madonna,
There on my chamber wall.
She smiled on the Infant Jesus
Cradled in her arms.
Sorrow wells in this breast
No child has e'er caressed.
From my window, I see
Naked trees, stripped of their leaves.
Now he is gone,
I understand.
Published in Saturday Evening Quill, June 1929