Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/270

 264 A TTAINED.

Close beneath, with failing footsteps, Eyes too dim to mark its crest,

Walk the aged, worn with waiting, Looking for the harvest blest ;

For at times unknown, uncertain, Precious leaves are said to drop,

Potent for rejuvenescence, From the. cypress stately top.

Ah ! if anywhere beyond us

There should spring a tree so fair,

How the pilgrim throng would quicken On the well-worn pathway there !

How uplifted hands would struggle For one chance to try again,

Though the new lease be no better Than the old one with its pain !

��ATTAINED.

A SHINING whorl of the fashioned frost With its silver petals lapped across Was over the buried lilies tossed.

Twas like a star in its saintly shine, Or like a gem from a river-mine, This snowy rose made of silver rime.

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