Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/155

 DRIFTED AWAY. 1 49

To drop them softly one by one Through morning s golden bars;

Or all along the lonely shore

To plight faith to the tide, And keep old Ocean s swelling pulse

True beating, far and wide ?

O God ! I thank Thee that I may

Such cares trust all to Thee, Who watches all Thy hand has made,

As tireless as eternity.

��DRIFTED AWAY.

TO-DAY Luke is coming, and I must be here, His best, truest friend, as they say, To speak solemn tidings as well as I can

Of his wife who has drifted away. I ll try to speak softly of her who is gone,

Nor let the old memory wake

Of the past, when the heart I would die to have won Bessie took from me only to break.

Travel-worn, bearded, and brown with the sun,

I see him come quickly more near ; God help me to tell him !

11 My wife ? Bessie Lee ?

Can you tell me if Bessie is here?&quot;

13 *

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