University of Virginia Library

BEFORE.

First Violet.
Lo here! how warm and dark and still it is;
Sister, lean close to me, that we may kiss.
Here we go rising, rising—know'st thou where?

Second Violet.
Indeed I cannot tell, nor do I care,
It is so warm and pleasant here. But hark!
What strangest sound was that above the dark?

First Violet.
As if our sisters all together sang,—
Seemed it not so?

Second Violet.
More loud than that it rang;
And louder still it rings, and seems more near.
Oh, I am shaken through and through with fear—
Now in some deadly grip I seemed confined!
Farewell, my sister! Rise, and follow, and find!

First Violet.
From how far off those last words seemed to fall!
Gone where she will not answer when I call!
How lost? how gone? Alas! this sound above me,—
“Poor little Violet, left with none to love thee!”
And now, it seems, I break against that sound!
What bitter pain is this that binds me round,
This pain I press into! Where have I come?