FIVE long clangs from the house-clock nigh, And I woke with a sigh: Stars wore west like a slow tide flowing, And my lover had told yesternight of his going, -- That at this gray hour he'd be hasting by, Starting betimes on a journey afar: -- So, casement ajar, I eyed in the upland pasture his figure, A dim dumb speck, growing darker and bigger, Then smalling to nought where the nut-trees are. He could not bend his track to my window, he'd said, Being hurried ahead: But I wished he had tried to! -- and then felt a shiver, Corpse-cold, as he sank toward the town by the river; And back I went sadly and slowly to bed. What meant my shiver while seeing him pass As a dot on the grass I surmised not then. But later I knew it When came again he; and my words outdrew it, As said he: "It's hard for your bearing, alas! "But I've seen, I have clasped, where the smart ships plough, One of far brighter brow. A sea-goddess. Shiver not. One far rarer In gifts than I find thee; yea, warmer and fairer: -- I seek her again; and I love you not now." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BABY, FR. AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND by GEORGE MACDONALD FAIRYLAND (1) by EDGAR ALLAN POE NOCTURNE IN A DESERTED BRICKYARD by CARL SANDBURG LITTLE JERRY, THE MILLER by JOHN GODFREY SAXE NATHAHNI AND SOYAZHE by FRANCES DAVIS ADAMS THE LUNCH by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH FOR MY CHILD by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS THE SONG OF THE ILL-BELOVED; TO PAUL LEAUTARD by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE |