XIII
ABSENCE
ABSENCE
Through azure realms of loneliness
Sails the hot sun: no cloudy fleet
Convoys him o'er the trackless waste,
Or cools his path with snowy sleep,
Becalmed upon the tropic deep;
Or scuds, by freshening breezes chased,
Dropping swift shadows down to bless
And make the sunlight doubly sweet.
Sails the hot sun: no cloudy fleet
Convoys him o'er the trackless waste,
Or cools his path with snowy sleep,
Becalmed upon the tropic deep;
Or scuds, by freshening breezes chased,
Dropping swift shadows down to bless
And make the sunlight doubly sweet.
Earth's upturned face is glad no more,
Expressionless beneath the noon;
The listless winds in covert lie,
Nor hunt in lightsome companies
Through whispering grain and sighing trees
The sea sends inland no reply
To the dumb yearning of the shore,
But ebbs away in weary swoon.
Expressionless beneath the noon;
The listless winds in covert lie,
Nor hunt in lightsome companies
Through whispering grain and sighing trees
The sea sends inland no reply
To the dumb yearning of the shore,
But ebbs away in weary swoon.
A bird in yonder thicket sings,—
And if so be his song tells true,
In miles and miles the only bird;
For ne'er such plaintive monotone
Of heart companionless and lone
Was in a summer noontide heard;
Tight folded are his useless wings,
His mate is lost beyond the blue.
And if so be his song tells true,
In miles and miles the only bird;
For ne'er such plaintive monotone
Of heart companionless and lone
Was in a summer noontide heard;
Tight folded are his useless wings,
His mate is lost beyond the blue.
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