Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/147

THE HEART OF NEW ENGLAND Her lips were like the raspberries; her cheek was soft and fair,

And little breezes stopped to lift the tangle of her hair;

A light was in her hazel eyes, and she was nothing loth

To hear the words her lover spoke, and pledged me there her troth;

And true is the word of New England.

When September brought the golden-rod, and maples burned like fire,

And bluer than in August rose the village smoke and higher,

And large and red among the stacks the ripened pumpkins shone,—

One hour, in which to say farewell, was left to us alone;

And sweet are the lanes of New England.

We loved each other truly! hard, hard it was to part;

But my ring was on her finger, and her hair lay next my heart.

"'T is but a year, my darling," I said ; "in one short year,

When our Western home is ready, I shall seek my Katie here";

And brave is the hope of New England.

I went to gain a home for her, and in the Golden State

With head and hand I planned and toiled, and early worked and late;

But luck was all against me, and sickness on me lay,

And ere I got my strength again 't was many a weary day;

And long are the thoughts of New England.

And many a day, and many a month, and thrice the tolling year,

I bravely strove, and still the goal seemed never yet more near. 117