Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/356

 346 CONSOLATIONS OF SOLITUDE

To sound thy knell each voice shall swell, but thine no more I

hear. Fond friends, to dust return ye must ! O why are ye so dear ?

��And when the boisterous winter winds around the house shall

howl. And placed before thy empty seat is seen an empty bowl. When through the sky the clouds shall lie in one broad sheet

of gray, And the keen blast to the dead past hath swept all bloom

away. When in deep rest the river's breast lies cased in glassy shield, Ice far and wide on every side incrusting every field, When all around o'er trackless ground the drifted snows are

piled. Through all the day no step to stray across the pathless wild, Until at last, light ebbing fast. Night's silent shadows fall. And spectres grim through firelight dim dance flickering on the

wall, —

Then must I grieve through the long eve, and spend the hours

alone ; In gusts my ear shall seem to hear a fond, familiar tone. The poems we were wont to read I shall be musing o'er. But shut the book at those sad words, " Farewell, we meet no

more ! " And when, grown old, December cold his dreariest look shall

wear. And the merry chime of Christmas time comes ringing through

the air. All round about, within, without, the carol, sounding clear. Shall seem to moan, " Thou'rt all alone — a weary wanderer

here 1 " Thy voice through silent space will sound, thy tread in every

track ; Despair will ever call on thee, but thou wilt ne'er come back.

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