Page:Records of Woman.pdf/305

Rh

And what have ye found in the monarch's dome, Since last ye travers'd the blue sea's foam? —"We have found a change, we have found a pall, And a gloom o'ershadowing the banquet's hall, And a mark on the floor as of life-drops spilt,— Nought looks the same save the nest we built!"

Oh! joyous birds, it hath still been so; Thro' the halls of kings doth the tempest go! But the huts of the hamlet lie still and deep, And the hills o'er their quiet a vigil keep. Say what have ye found in the peasant's cot, Since last ye parted from that sweet spot?

"A change we have found there—and many a change! Faces and footsteps and all things strange! Gone are the heads of the silvery hair, And the young that were, have a brow of care, And the place is hush'd where the children play'd,— Nought looks the same, save the nest we made!"