Page:Songs of Rebellion (Hall 1915).djvu/52

 SHADOWS

A sadness and a longing tries my inmost soul to-night; An undefinable sorrow; a shadow on the light; A restless, weary searching for a passage through the bars, Out of this gilded prison to the free, eternal stars.

A sadness and a longing that is not of earthly things, But a heartache for the silence and the long lost angel wings; For the vanished days of childhood and the innocence gone by, When the fairies manned the cloud-ships that sailed the western sky.

A sadness and a longing that grows stronger as I roam Nearer yet and nearer to my old plantation home, And the violets and roses waft their perfume to my brain— But I'll never play with Levi nor hunt with Will again!

A sadness and a longing, and a wish to drift once more Down the bayous, through the lilies, all alone as long ago; With the blue, blue skies above me, and the world of love so near That the strange ethereal music falls in sweetness on my ear.

A sadness and a longing, heart, for those who lie asleep In the old plantation graveyard, and for whom I dare not weep; A sadness and a longing inexpressable in tears, Growing deeper yet and deeper as I move on down the years. 46