As a goodly rainbow that fades SOMEWHERE or other there must In quacks who set up to patch Nestle by their woolly mother ་ and mend. The careful ewe. BEAUTY IS VAIN WHILE roses are so red, She's not so sweet as a rose, A lily's straighter than she, And if she were as red or white She'd be but one of three. Whether she flush in love's summer Or in its winter grow pale, Whether she flaunt her beauty Or hide it away in a veil, Be she red or white And stand she erect or bowed, Time will win the race he runs with her, And hide her away in a shroud. 20 January 1864. WHAT WOULD I GIVE! WHAT would I give for a heart of flesh to warm me through, Instead of this heart of stone icecold whatever I do! Hard and cold and small, of all hearts the worst of all. What would I give for words, if only words would come! But now in its misery my spirit has fallen dumb. O merry friends, go your way, I have never a word to say. What would I give for tears! not smiles but scalding tears, To wash the black mark clean, and to thaw the frost of years, To wash the stain ingrain, and to make me clean again. 28 January 1864. THE GHOST'S PETITION After the night and before the day, One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping THERE'S a footstep coming; look Watching, weeping for one away. out and see.' 'The leaves are falling, the wind is calling; No one cometh across the lea.' 'There's a footstep coming; O sister, look.' There came a footstep climbing the stair; Some one standing out on the landing Shook the door like a puff of air The ripple flashes, the white Shook the door and in he passed. His word was given; from earth (Blue the flame burnt in the grate.) Hour after hour, in doubt and pain. Feel not after my clasping hand : 'I shall sit here awhile, and watch; Listening, hoping, for one hand groping In deep shadow to find the latch.' After the dark and before the light, One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping, I am but a shadow, come from the meadow Where many lie, but no tree can stand. 'We are trees which have shed their leaves : Our heads lie low there, but no tears flow there; Who had watched and wept the Only I grieve for my wife who 'I could rest if you would not moan Hour after hour: I have no power To shut my ears where I lie alone. I could rest if you would not cry; But there's no sleeping while you sit weeping- Watching, weeping so bitterly.'— 'Woe's me! woe's me! for this I have heard. Oh night of sorrow!-oh black to-morrow! Is it thus that you keep your word? "O you who used so to shelter me Warm from the least wind--why, now the east wind 'Yet I'll dry my tears for your sake : Why should I tease you, who cannot please you Any more with the pains I take?' 7 April 1864. HOPING AGAINST HOPE IF he would come to-day, to-day, to-day, Oh what a day to-day would be! But now he's away, miles and miles away From me across the sea. O little bird, flying, flying, flying To your nest in the warm west, Is warmer than you, whom I quake Tell him as you pass that I am dying, to see. 'O my husband of flesh and blood, For whom my mother I left, and brother, And all I had, accounting it good, 'What do you do there, underground, In the dark hollow? I'm fain to follow. What do you do there?—what have you found?'— "What I do there I must not tell : But I have plenty; kind wife, content ye: It is well with us -it is well. 'Tender hand hath made our nest; Our fear is ended, our hope is blended With present pleasure, and we have rest.' 'Oh but Robin, I'm fain to come, If your present days are SO pleasant, For my days are so wearisome. As you pass home to your nest. I have a sister, I have a brother, A faithful hound, a tame white dove ; But I had another, once I had another, And I miss him, my love, my love! In this weary world it is so cold, so cold, While I sit here all alone; I would not like to wait and to grow old, But just to be dead and gone. Make me fair when I lie dead on |