 | Studies in verse (1865) |  |
And William stinted not at first to write
Whole reams of wonders from the giant town,
‘This was the place for every one to thrive:
He could not think how any soul remained
To till the country, when the world's great mart
Lay wide for all; whose mighty river's side
Garner'd the wealth of empires on its wharves,
And reapt in gold the harvest of the earth.’
But after certain months more seldom came
His letters, and less hopeful. She, that kept
Them all, comparing with the first these last,
Became uneasy; and besought her son,
Writing from time to time without avail,
To tell her all his grief, if grief he knew.
But the boy fought it off in his replies,
Evading or ignoring all she said.
Whole reams of wonders from the giant town,
‘This was the place for every one to thrive:
He could not think how any soul remained
To till the country, when the world's great mart
Lay wide for all; whose mighty river's side
Garner'd the wealth of empires on its wharves,
And reapt in gold the harvest of the earth.’
But after certain months more seldom came
38
Them all, comparing with the first these last,
Became uneasy; and besought her son,
Writing from time to time without avail,
To tell her all his grief, if grief he knew.
But the boy fought it off in his replies,
Evading or ignoring all she said.
| Studies in verse (1865) | |