Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/130

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124 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.

Now I stand once more

On the shadowed shore, To the water slowly turning ;

And I learn to-day,

In an idle way, A lesson worth the learning.

Lo ! the sails are white,

All the masts are bright, And the ruddy flag is streaming ;

Turning breasts of snow,

Wheeling sea-gulls go, With their wide wings whitely gleaming.

So I look no more,

As I did before, At life s shadows with repining;

If the sails are dun,

I shall know the sun On the other side is shining.

For the gloom we see

May but brightness be When we get across the river,

"Where the sun no more

Leaves the golden shore, And our ships are white for ever !

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