Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/213

Like a crystal lamp unlighted,
   A home with its hearthstone dark.

"I've sailed on the silent river,
   Still tacking from shore to shore,
But the soulless opal never
   A flash for a claimant bore.

"My lord from the castle yonder
   Quite failed with the magic spell,
For he envied a shooting-manor
   A neighbor would never sell.

"My lady, with jewels shining,
   Called not from the gem a ray,
For the bitter sigh of the childless
   Was biding beneath alway.

"The painter with nodding laurel,
   The poet with fadeless bay,
Courtier, and hind, and maiden,
   Each bade me a moment stay;

"But the poet would be a Milton,
   The painter-lad loved in vain,
And the courtier s foot was gouty;
   So I seaward turn again.

"Far down in the quiet valley
   I'll tarry at eventide,