University of Virginia Library


101

TO SUE.

WRITTEN ONE RAINY NIGHT.

“The Past is with me, and I scarcely hear
Outside the weeping of the homeless rain.”

The cottage and the mill, Sue, that crazy talking mill
Whose hand caresses carelessly the wanton, romping rill!
The olden bridge above, and the music flow beneath;
The eddies, and the stars that came to join the water-wreath;
The trains from distant towns, Sue, whose shriekings startle night;
That looming factory hard by with window eyes of light;

102

The grave-yard near the Oaks, Sue, the breezes and their sighs;
The clouds that read the epitaphs with their dilating eyes!
The ruined Fort that stands, Sue, and frowns so in the night,
Where meets Piscataqua and toys with Ocean's lips of white;
The moon-light walks we've had and the walks without a moon,
Thro' woods stuck full of rosy eyes by airy-ankled June!
The gleaming of your eyes, Sue, the floating of your hair,
The echoes of your lips that trill and faint upon the air,
They all come back to-night, Sue, they all come back to-night;
My eyes behold the dusty Past and Memory holds the light.
The unforgiving winds, Sue, torment the tender rain;
A storm's without, I heed it not—I'm with you once again!