Page:The roamer and other poems (1920).djvu/53

 THE ROAMER

" the earth heavier for the corpse that lies,

Or lighter for the spirit flown away,

That she has fixed so deep the lust of life?"

The Roamer heard; and as from tides of night

Earth seemed emerging round him; the white moon

Lifted the low hills from the raven shade;

And like the eternal deluge petrified

In heaven-shouldering billows, the black Range

Bore up the snowy threshold of the stars;

His soul yet felt its dread, his heart its chill.

That one who had renewed his pain stood nigh

In the bright glitter of the mountain moon,

A youth thought-worn; the color of his face

Hovered between the bloom and bronze, nor yet

Had time renewed in him his twentieth May;

Upon his full brow moulded tenderly

The morning sorrow of our life sat throned;

In meditation lost he muttered on: