A Shadow
HE was standing in the sunshine,
But still he stood in shadow;
A shadow clung about him, and kept the sun aloof.
And I thought,—"Has he been wicked?
Is it sin that casts the shadow!"
But his eyes were free from sin,
Then I wondered,—"Is it sorrow?"
But his laugh was full of mirth,
And even as I wondered
At the following, haunting shadow,
(That was cast by nothing living, the shadow of a shade.)
I saw it was a woman's,
The shadow of a woman,
Of the woman who is dead,
And then I understood.