Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/41

 WRITTEN ON RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS, 1906.

dreamlike, strange, is this Reprieve to happiness And life! to sit at ease In comfort of green trees! And marvelling hear Thrush and blackbird piping near; Whilst, thro' every passive sense, Creeps a healing influence, That, baptizing heart and brain, Renews and makes me whole again!

No more, like one for whom There is nor light nor gloom, Silence nor sound, His sleep is so profound, I lie, in seeming rest, With hands prayer-folded on my breast, Silent, as slow nights and days Pass on undistinguished ways, Silent, tho' my heart made moan, Sadly to herself alone, Saying, "Now, dissolves the snow;" Saying, "Now, the violets blow;— Ah, when I am laid more low, They will blow more close to me, Closer still and I not see,