Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/332

 326 THE SNOW THAT LIES BETWEEN.

��THE SNOW THAT LIES BETWEEN.

1KNOW autumn s beautiful slumber Is only a rest-giving sleep, That trees only throw down their jewels For the Ethiop, Earth, safe to keep.

I know these cold winds of November Will blow till fair April sheds tears,

When, looping from Harvest to sowing, Still stretches the vine of the years.

I know yonder knoll clad in stubble Will glow in its spring suit of green ;

And yet, knowing all, I remember A winter s snow lies in between.

Will it cover some heartache or trial With crystalline glittering show?

Will it borrow some treasure I cherish To hide underneath the white snow?

So silent its white hand falls softly, Will it give me aught back when it lifts,

Or lie over some buried purpose, Some pitiful wide-gaping rifts?

Nay, rather I ll think that some blossom Is hidden till spring-time unseen,

And so, like a patient bird brooding,

Dread not though the snow lies between.

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