Page:Lyrics of Life, Coates, 1909.djvu/23

Rh Then, as had been our wont before,—

Unused in vain to sigh,—

We turned our treasure o'er and o'er,

But found in all our vaunted store

No coin that dreams would buy.

We stood with empty hands: but gay

As though upborne on wings,

He left us; and at set of day

We heard him singing, far away,

The joy of simple things!

He left us, and with apathy

We gazed upon our gold;

But to the world's ascendancy

Submissive, soon we came to be

Much as we were of old.

Yet sometimes when the fragrant dawn

In early splendor beams,

And sometimes when, the twilight gone,

The moon o'er-silvers wood and lawn,

An echo of his dreams

Brings to the heart a swift regret

That is not wholly pain,

And, grieving, we would not forget

The vision, hallowed to us yet,—

The hope that seemed so vain.