University of Virginia Library

I plucked my flowers before the dawn. I heard
A loud bell ringing on the dewy pier,
And went on board. Away the vessel sped,
Leaving a foamy track upon the sea,
A smoky trail in air. We touched, half-way,
A melancholy town, that sat and pined
'Mong weedy docks and quays. Thence went the train;
It shook the sunny suburbs with a scream;
Skimmed milk-white orchards, walls and mossy trees
One sheet of blossom; flew through living rocks,
Adown whose maimed and patient faces, tears
Trickle for ever; plunged in howling gloom;
Burst into blinding day; afar was seen
The river gleaming 'gainst a wall of rain,
A moment and no more; for suddenly
Upflew the envious and earthen banks,
And shut all out, until the engine slacked.
Amid the fiery forges and the smoke
I reached the warehouse. At the accustomed hour
Of rest at noon I stole toward her room;
I listened, but I could not hear a sound
For my loud-beating heart. With troubled hand,
I rested on the door, which stood, like death,
Between my soul and bliss. It oped at last
On a bare room that struck me with a chill.
I came back to my task; I dared not ask
A casual question; for I feared each one,
By only turning on me his calm eyes,
Would read my secret.

On that afternoon,
I bore a message to the upper flats:
When I returned, the stairs were black as night:
I heard two girls come slowly up the steps,
Bearing their water-loads: they laid them down,
And thus I heard them talking in the dark.