Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/404

 MARK TWAIN

Contented lived in its secure possession. Ah, How long ago it was !

And then when they

Were nothing fearing, and God s peace was in the air, And none was prophesying harm The vast disaster fell :

Where stood the temple when the sun went down, Was vacant desert when it rose again !

Ah, yes ! Tis ages since it chanced !

So long ago it was, That from the memory of the hamlet-folk the Light

has passed

They scarce believing, now, that once it was, Or, if believing, yet not missing it, And reconciled to have it gone.

Not so the priests ! Oh, not so The stricken ones that served it day and night, Adoring it, abiding in the healing of its peace : They stand, yet, where erst they stood Speechless in that dim morning long ago; And still they gaze, as then they gazed, And murmur, &quot;It will come again; It knows our pain it knows it knows Ah, surely it will come again.*

S. L. C. LAKE LUCERNE, August 18, 1897.

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