 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary |  |
SPECTRES.
Once more the shadows darken
Upon life's solemn stream—
Once more I'm in my chamber
To ponder and to dream.
Upon life's solemn stream—
Once more I'm in my chamber
To ponder and to dream.
Down in the mist-white valley,
Across the hills afar,
The rosy light is gleaming
From Love's descending star.
Across the hills afar,
The rosy light is gleaming
From Love's descending star.
I hear from yonder parlor
A prattler cry, “He 's come!”
Oh, there 's a world of comfort—
I wish I had a home!
A prattler cry, “He 's come!”
Oh, there 's a world of comfort—
I wish I had a home!
All last night, round about me
The lights of memory streamed,
And my heart to long-lost music
Kept beating as I dreamed.
The lights of memory streamed,
And my heart to long-lost music
Kept beating as I dreamed.
We live with spectres haunted
That we cannot exorcise—
A pale and shadowy army
Between us and the skies.
That we cannot exorcise—
A pale and shadowy army
Between us and the skies.
Conjured by mortal weakness,
In their cerements they start
From the lonesome burial-places
Of the dead hopes of the heart.
In their cerements they start
From the lonesome burial-places
Of the dead hopes of the heart.
105
They will meet thee, fellow-pilgrim,
For their graves are everywhere,
And thou canst not lay them better
Than by labor which is prayer.
For their graves are everywhere,
And thou canst not lay them better
Than by labor which is prayer.
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary | |