Page:Captain Craig; a book of poems.djvu/95

Rh Again we waited; and this time we knew Those lips of his that would not flicker down Had yet some fettered message for us there. We waited, and we watched him. All at once, With a faint flash, the clouded eyes grew clear; And then we knew the man was coming back, And we knew that he would speak in the old way. We watched him, and I listened. The man smiled And looked about him—not regretfully, Not anxiously; and when at last he spoke, Before the long drowse came to give him peace, One word was all he said. "Trombones," he said.

That evening, at "The Chrysalis" again, We smoked and looked at one another's eyes, And we were glad. The world had scattered ways For us to take, we knew; but for the time That one snug room where the big beech logs roared smooth Defiance to the cold rough rain outside Sufficed. There were no scattered ways for us That we could see just then, and we were glad: