Reverberations :: :: University of Virginia Library

The darkness and the dread and the despair
Lie thick and heavy on the human heart,
Which nurses fears, and hopes like fears, apart,
Half stifled, like caged birds for want of air;
Or if a brother act a brother's part,
The converse still is of low-thoughted care.
Children that should in the green meadows live,
And prattle to their mothers, meek and fair,
Of cowslips, daisies, birds, and merry play,
Taking ten kisses for each kiss they give,
Talk over common wants of every day,
Or ask the old question, “Is there any bread?”
While, with the murmured curse or silence dread,
Young fathers stand around with hair grief-grey.