Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/125

 FLOATING. 119

The form that was human, wore mortal-made gar ments,

That sat in the chair over there, That hung a worn hat on a nail driven yonder,

That spoke honest words, true and fair,

All these clog my vision as, crying and praying,

I read of that strange body new In glory to rise from mortality faded,

Exultant eternity through.

Yet vainly I try with my poor feeble powers

To think of the loved, even there, Without the kind smile that he wore when among us,

Without the soft, silvery hair.

��FLOATING.

IN the upward glint of the twilight flame I see one friend who is still the same, Tho he says no word nor speaks my name-

A china sailor, with resting blade Across a blue boat lightly laid, And a cargo fit for fairy trade.

Over the mantel-tree years agone His cheery face like light has shone, When sun and stars had both gone down.

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