Page:Poems Craik.djvu/195

Or old friend, lost for years, had strange
 In altered mien come sudden back,
 Confronting us with our great lack—
Till loss seemed far less sad than change.

Yet though, alas! Hope did not see
 This winter skeleton through full leaves,
 Out of all bareness Faith perceives
Possible life in field and tree.

In bough and trunk the sap will move,
 And the mould break o'er springing flowers;
 Nature revives with all her powers,
But only nature;—never love.

So, listlessly with linked hands
 Both Faith and Hope glide soft away;
 While in long shadows, cool and gray,
The sun sets o'er the barren lands.