"For he promised that he would come :

His word was given; from earth or heaven, He must keep his word, and must come home.

"Go to sleep, my sweet sister Jane;

You can slumber, who need not number Hour after hour, in doubt and pain.

"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, Who had watched and wept the weary night.

After the night, and before the day,

One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping, Watching, weeping for one away.

There came a footstep climbing the stair;
Some one standing out on the landing
Shook the door like a puff of air,

Shook the door, and in he passed.

-

Did he enter? In the room centre Stood her husband: the door shut fast.

Chilled with the night-dew: so lily-white you Look like a stray lamb from our fold.

"O Robin, but you are late:

Come and sit near me, sit here and cheer me." (Blue the flame burnt in the grate.)

"Lay not down your head on my breast:

I cannot hold you, kind wife, nor fold you In the shelter that you love best.

"Feel not after my clasping hand :

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 ; Only I grieve for my wife who grieves.

"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. O, night of sorrow! - O, 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 Is warmer than you, whom I quake 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:

"Tender hand hath made our nest;

Our fear is ended, our hope is blended With present pleasure, and we have rest."

“O, but Robin, I'm fain to come,

If your present days are so pleasant ; For my days are so wearisome.

"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?"

MEMORY.

I

I.

NURSED it in my bosom while it lived, I hid it in my heart when it was dead; In joy I sat alone, even so I grieved

Alone and nothing said.

I shut the door to face the naked truth,
I stood alone, I faced the truth alone,
Stripped bare of self-regard or forms or ruth
Till first and last were shown.

I took the perfect balances and weighed;
No shaking of my hand disturbed the poise;
Weighed, found it wanting: not a word I said,
But silent made my choice.

None know the choice I made; I make it still. None know the choice I made and broke my heart, Breaking mine idol: I have braced my will

Once, chosen for once my part.

I broke it at a blow, I laid it cold,

Crushed in my deep heart where it used to live. My heart dies inch by inch; the time grows old, Grows old in which I grieve.

II.

I have a room whereinto no one enters

Save I myself alone:

There sits a blessed memory on a throne, There my life centres.

While winter comes and goes - O tedious comer! And while its nip-wind blows;

While bloom the bloodless lily and warm rose Of lavish summer.

If any should force entrance he might see there One buried yet not dead,

Before whose face I no more bow my head Or bend my knee there;

But often in my worn life's autumn weather

I watch there with clear eyes,

And think how it will be in Paradise When we 're together.