 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary |  |
215
MY FRIEND.
Along the west the stormy red
Burned blackest gaps afar and near;
Across the coverlid of snow
We saw the shadows come and go,
But no one to his neighbor said
His saddest fear.
Burned blackest gaps afar and near;
Across the coverlid of snow
We saw the shadows come and go,
But no one to his neighbor said
His saddest fear.
Peered from his hole the bright-eyed mouse,
The winds were blowing wild and wide,
Up the bleak sand the tide ran white
And icy as the full moon's light,
And in his lonesome hollow house
The brown owl cried.
The winds were blowing wild and wide,
Up the bleak sand the tide ran white
And icy as the full moon's light,
And in his lonesome hollow house
The brown owl cried.
We knew her pain and care were o'er,
We knew that angels led the way,
Yet wept, and could not choose but weep
The while we saw her go to sleep
For the long night that falls before
The eternal day.
We knew that angels led the way,
Yet wept, and could not choose but weep
The while we saw her go to sleep
For the long night that falls before
The eternal day.
The starlight glimmering faintly through
The window, shone beside her bed,
But ere the solemn time had worn
To the white breaking of the morn,
It faded off. Alas, I knew
That she was dead.
The window, shone beside her bed,
But ere the solemn time had worn
To the white breaking of the morn,
It faded off. Alas, I knew
That she was dead.
I put my hair before my eyes,
And all my soul to sorrow gave;
My only comfort was to know
That she no longer saw my woe—
All heaven was gone out of the skies
Into the grave.
And all my soul to sorrow gave;
My only comfort was to know
That she no longer saw my woe—
All heaven was gone out of the skies
Into the grave.
From off the windy threshing floors
The dust in golden flaws was blown,
The cock crew out, flail answered flail,
And limbs of apples, red and pale,
Beside the open cottage doors,
Together shone.
The dust in golden flaws was blown,
The cock crew out, flail answered flail,
And limbs of apples, red and pale,
Beside the open cottage doors,
Together shone.
216
They kissed me, saying I must know
How sober plenty smiled for me,
But round my mortal life there lay
And shall do till my dying day,
Thy still and awful shadow, oh
Eternity!
How sober plenty smiled for me,
But round my mortal life there lay
And shall do till my dying day,
Thy still and awful shadow, oh
Eternity!
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary | |