TIME LONG PAST. 251 TIME LONG PAST. LIKE the ghost of a dear friend dead A tone which is now forever fled, There were sweet dreams in the night And, was it sadness or delight, Each day a shadow onward cast Which made us wish it yet might last— There is regret, almost remorse, For time long past. 'Tis like a child's beloved corse A father watches, till at last P. B. Shelley. 252 A LAMENT. A LAMENT. I STAND where I last stood with thee! There is not a leaf on the trysting tree; When shalt thou be once again what thou wert? Have they a morrow? Here we stood, ere we parted, so close side by side; Ah, never can fall from the days that have been E. Bulwer, Lord Lytton. FROM the close-shut windows gleams no spark; The darkness is pressing coldly around, The world is happy, the world is wide, O, 'tis a bitter and dreary word, The saddest by man's ear ever heard! Must we for ever, then, be alone? Alone, alone, ah woe! alone! J. R. Lowell. And after that the rustle of a shroud, And then a creaking door, And last the coronach, full shrill and loud, Of women clapping hands and weeping sore. Now Meg knew well that ill was close at hand, Because the Glamour touched her lids like breath, Then suddenly she heard a human shout, Then a hoarse voice-a knocking at the door- Now mark the woman! She hath risen her height, One look upon her child-he sleepeth on- Barefooted out into the dark she fares, And comes where, rubbing eyelids thick with sleep, The half-clad fishers mingle oaths and prayers, And look upon the Deep. Black was the oozy lift, Black were the sea and land; Hither and thither, thick with foam and drift, Swinging with iron clash on stone and sand. Faintlier the heavy Rain was falling, Faintlier, faintlier the Wind was calling THE STORM. With hollower echoes up the drifting dark! While the swift rockets shooting through the night Flash'd past the foam-flecked reef with phantom light, And showed the piteous outline of the bark, Rising and falling like a living thing, Shuddering, shivering, While, howling beastlike, the white breakers there While flashing faint the blue light rose and died. Be gentle! chain the fierce waves with a chain! And breathe the frail lad safely through the foam And spare the bad man with the frenzied eye; 245 Now faintlier blew the wind, the thin rain ceased, GOD putting out His hand! And overhead the rack grew thinner too, The Wind drave past the stars, and faint they flew And now the thousand foam-flames o' the Sea And gray lights hither and thither came and fled, |