Page:Complete Works of Lewis Carroll.djvu/967

Rh So after many years he came
 * A wanderer from a distant shore:

The street, the house, were still the same,
 * But those he sought were there no more :

His burning words, his hopes and fears, Unheeded fell on alien ears.

Only the children from their play
 * Would pause the mournful tale to hear,

Shrinking in half -alarm away.
 * Or, step by step, would venture near

To touch with timid curious hands That strange wild man from other lands.

He sat beside the busy street,
 * There, where he last had seen her face;

And thronging memories, bitter-sweet.
 * Seemed yet to haunt the ancient place:

Her footfall ever floated near: Her voice was ever in his ear.

He sometimes, as the daylight waned
 * And evening mists began to roll,.

In half -soliloquy complained
 * Of that black shadow on his soul,.

And blindly fanned, with cruel care, The ashes of a vain despair.

The summer fled: the lonely man
 * Still lingered out the lessening days:

Still, as the night drew on, would scan
 * Each passing face with closer gaze —

Till, sick at heart, he turned away. And sighed "She will not come to-day."