"The Empty Room"
By Alice Josephine "Jo" Davis Jackson
Alice Josephine "Jo" Davis Jackson wrote this poem after the death of her husband, William "Billy" Jackson, in 1957. Her son John Richard Jackson later published it in his 1997 collection, "Echoes from the Thundermug," under his own column heading, "Marriages Weather Storms with Love."
My heart is composed of a number of rooms
Where my friends and loved ones stay,
But over one room a dark cloud looms
For one tenant has gone away.
I will always remember the days before
All my happiness turned to gloom,
My love is gone and I'll close the door
On that cold, dark, empty room
I found no one to take his place
Of course, that could never be
Always before me is his dear face
And no other love can I see