Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/54

48  Still I hear the echo chanted, Down the ages sounding sweet; Still I hear the brooding murmur, Softly still thy prayer repeat: "Svala, svala honom!"

So I fancy cheer and comfort With the whirring of thy wings; Still I wait and bid my sorrow Vanish when the swallow sings; Thinking how much nearer heaven Birds can flutter, as they will, Than I, and so repeat the whisper Through the ether blue and still: "Svala, svala honom!"

 

NEW old moon! O old moon new! Which title may I give to you? You were not here a month ago, Yet here ashine to-night; and so Conflicting statements both are true.

To-night the floods of still white rain Come to me through the window-pane, Sodden with old-time memory Of Earth's primeval history, When shadows were Earth's only stain. 