Page:The Atlantic Monthly Volume 2.djvu/459

1858.] And the world swings sadly to and fro,– Mayhap the shining, but sure the woe! For in the sunlight the shadows grow
 * Over the new name on the door,
 * Over the face unseen before.

Yet who shall number, by any art, The chasms that keep so wide apart The dancing step and the weary heart?
 * Oh, who shall guess that the polished wall
 * Is a headstone over his neighbor's hall?


 * Yet the houses are just alike, you know,–
 * All the houses alike, in a row!

And solemn sounds are heard at night, And solemn forms shut out the light, And hideous thoughts the soul affright:
 * Death and despair, in solemn state,
 * In the silent, vaulted chambers wait;

And up the stairs as your children go, Spectres follow them, to and fro,– Only a wall between them, oh!
 * And the darkest demons, grinning, see
 * The fairest angels that dwell with thee!


 * For the houses are all alike, you know,–
 * All the houses alike, in a row!

My chariot waited, gold and gay: "I'll ride," I said, "to the woods to-day,– Out to the blithesome woods away,–
 * Where the old trees, swaying thoughtfully,
 * Watch the breeze and the shadow's glee."

I smiled but once, with my joy elate, For a chariot stood at my neighbor's gate,– A grim old chariot, dark as fate.
 * "Oh, where are you taking my neighbor?" I cried.
 * And the gray old driver thus replied:–


 * "Where the houses are all alike, you know,–
 * Narrow houses, all in a row!

Unto a populous city," he saith: "The road lies steep through the Vale of Death Oh, it makes the old steeds gasp for breath!
 * There'll be a new name over the door,
 * In a place where he's never been before,–

Where the neighbors never visit, they say,– Where the streets are echoless, night and day, And the children forget their childish play.
 * And if you should live next door, I doubt
 * If you'd ever hear what they were about

Who lived in the next house in the row,– Though the houses are all alike, you know!"