Page:Lyrics and legends (IA lyricslegends00perr).pdf/16

 10 Lyrics and Legends, I kept so still within my place

That though I did not see a face,

I heard each breath that passed my way,

And knew what every heart did say.

I knew their hopes, I knew their fears,

I heard their laughter and their tears;

But over all I heard a plaint,

Now lifted high, now falling faint,—

A plaint of doubt, and doubting dread;

A questioning, hungry cry that spread

From heart to heart until I heard,

Sometimes, no other sound or word.

And all the while the rootlets grew

About my bed ; from old and new

I felt the quickening pulse and breath,

The throes of life that conquered death.