Page:Pleasant Memories.pdf/74

Good woman! dead, and buried near the coast,
Three days ago."
                        But when a stranger marked
How the strong hues of speechless misery
Changed every feature, he in pity said,
"Perhaps he'll come to- morrow."
                                          Home she turned,
Struck to the heart, and wept the livelong night,
Insensible to comfort; and to those,
Who came in kind compassion to her side,
Answering nothing.
                          But when day restored
The hour of expectation, with strange zeal
She rose, and dressed, and cast her mantle on,
And as the coachman checked his foaming steeds
Stood closely by his side."Is Willy here?
Has Willy come?" while he, by pity schooled,
Answered "to-morrow!"
                               And thus years have fled;
And though her step grows weaker, and the locks
Thinner and whiter on her furrowed brow,
Yet duly, when the shrill horn o'er the hills
Announceth the approaching passenger,
She hurries forth, with wild and wasted eye,
To speak her only question, and receive
That same reply "to-morrow."
                                          And on that
Poor, single fragment doth her yearning heart
Feed and survive. When tottering Reason sank