To Edith

Through the long years
	I sought peace.
I found ecstasy, I found anguish,
	I found madness,
I found loneliness.
I found the solitary pain
	that gnaws the heart,
But peace I did not find.
Now, old and near my end,
	I have known you,
And, knowing you,
I have found both ecstasy and peace
	I know rest.
After so many lonely years
I know what life and love may be.
Now, if I sleep,
I shall sleep fulfilled.

		Bertrand Russell
.