Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/130

 124 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.

Now I stand once more

On the shadowed shore, To the water slowly turning ;

And I learn to-day,

In an idle way, A lesson worth the learning.

Lo ! the sails are white,

All the masts are bright, And the ruddy flag is streaming ;

Turning breasts of snow,

Wheeling sea-gulls go, With their wide wings whitely gleaming.

So I look no more,

As I did before, At life s shadows with repining;

If the sails are dun,

I shall know the sun On the other side is shining.

For the gloom we see

May but brightness be When we get across the river,

&quot;Where the sun no more

Leaves the golden shore, And our ships are white for ever !

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