Page:Dora Sigerson Shorter - New Poems.djvu/14



eve and through the night I heard a cry Go forth across the fields, and still to-day I hear it echo, and the fierce reply Of some poor stricken heart too far away.

Beside my gate a little calf, bereft Of those maternal cares that were his right, Calls for the milky comfort he has left, And learns his first hard lesson through the night.

And from afar the answering cries repeat His grief forlorn, his longing, and his woe— Poor mother mourning, in her green retreat, Her helpless young lost in the vale below.

And I had come unto the quiet ways Of pleasant fields, of woods so cool and deep, To lose those cries that from the city’s maze Wearied my hours and broke my troubled sleep.