Page:Carroll - Three Sunsets.djvu/36

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. The evening-breeze went moaning by,
 * Like mourner for the dead,

And stirred, with shrill complaining sigh,
 * The tree-tops overhead:

My guardian-angel seemed to stand And mutely wave a warning hand— With sudden terror all unmanned,
 * I turned myself and fled!

A cottage-gate stood open wide:
 * Soft fell the dying ray

On two fair children, side by side,
 * That rested from their play—

Together bent the earnest head, As ever and anon they read From one dear Book: the words they said
 * Come back to me to-day.

Like twin cascades on mountain-stair
 * Together wandered down

The ripples of the golden hair, The ripples of the brown: 18