Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/294

 288 IS IT WISE?

For close beside his falling feet A shining footstep followed too,

And some saw gleaming wings anear, They softly said. Perhaps twas true.

��IS IT WISE?

THE ring on my pretty friend s finger Is troth-plight, you say. Is it true ? All the upreaching dreams softly vanished, Because bonny eyes are so blue ?

Leaving starlight that bid her look upward, For glow-worm that lies at her feet,

Because the thick locks are so golden ; Because the soft smile is so sweet.

Left the bridge to be trusted for ever,

A stay for the foot evermore, For the wearisome ford in the valley,

Growing steep on the hitherward shore ?

Has she turned from the rock s steady shadow, Where trust, would be safety alway,

To the gay little tent by the roadside A zephyr might shiver away ?

From the marble by skill fitly graven, With thought through its carving ashine,

To the image of clay gayly gilded, And painted with coloring fine ?

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