Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/344

 33^ THE LETTERS THAT COME NOT.

&quot;No letter? And you re disappointed,

A little bit (whisper it) cross, Because you must wait till to-morrow To read the old story, Dear Floss ?&quot;

Ah ! sweetheart, have patience yet longer ;

Twill come by and by, safe and sure, Though the waiting for love or a lover

Grows hard for the young to endure.

But we, who live nearer Life s shadows, Have learned that no present &quot;to-day&quot;

Glows ever so fair as that &quot; morrow &quot; That peers over nightfall alway.

Besides, in the days of our sojourn

Have come, in their white paper cloaks,

Through the post, very sorrowful stories Sad words that have scarred us like strokes.

And now, when there cometh no tidings, We learn to be patient and wait,

Right glad for the missive that comes not, As well as for these at the gate

Right glad that the bundle of letters Held tight in the messenger s hand,

For us held no goblin to frighten, Nor tale of a broken home-band

No thorn of distrust with its poison, No arrow to smite into pain,

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