88
poems.
Nearer came that laughing band,
Bounding forth in merry glee
But soon they spied my aged form,
And curious looks they bent on me.
Bounding forth in merry glee
But soon they spied my aged form,
And curious looks they bent on me.
Eagerly I scanned the group,
To see if one was there
Whose agile form I once had loved,
And praised her dark brown hair.
To see if one was there
Whose agile form I once had loved,
And praised her dark brown hair.
But their faces all were strange,
And I turned away to weep;
While the sunbeams sank to rest,
And all Nature fell asleep.
And I turned away to weep;
While the sunbeams sank to rest,
And all Nature fell asleep.
Youth I wandered to the homestead,
Stood beside the moss-grown well;
But the strange despair that filled me
Words like these can never tell.
Stood beside the moss-grown well;
But the strange despair that filled me
Words like these can never tell.
Gone were parents, brothers, sisters;
I of all was left alone;
And a sound from moving tree-tops
Seemed to echo back—Alone.
I of all was left alone;
And a sound from moving tree-tops
Seemed to echo back—Alone.
