On the Landing.
89
If Flame had gone limping when on his last spin,
'Twas time that he started to draw his horns in;
So he just stopped to listen a moment, no more,
And forgot altogether to wait at the door.
'Twas time that he started to draw his horns in;
So he just stopped to listen a moment, no more,
And forgot altogether to wait at the door.
She stood on the landing; the shadows were deep,
Some great yellow roses had fallen asleep,
And drooped in their vases; the lights were all low,
Why was he late when she wanted to go?
The music came faintly the silence along,
Now rising, now falling, now soft, and now strong.
Outside lay the starlight mysteriously fair,
And someone was mounting the carpeted stair.
Someone who would not have left her to wait
Alone on a landing because he was late;
Someone whose will had once moulded her own,
Who sweet vanished dreams of her dead past had known,
But mists had arisen and blinded love's eyes,
And now she had woven new bonds and new ties,
For life must be lived though its sweetness is fled,
"To-morrow my vows will be spoken," she said.
"Oh! why has he come to rewaken the past?
Why has he sought me, and found me at last?"
Some great yellow roses had fallen asleep,
And drooped in their vases; the lights were all low,
Why was he late when she wanted to go?
The music came faintly the silence along,
Now rising, now falling, now soft, and now strong.
Outside lay the starlight mysteriously fair,
And someone was mounting the carpeted stair.
Someone who would not have left her to wait
Alone on a landing because he was late;
Someone whose will had once moulded her own,
Who sweet vanished dreams of her dead past had known,
But mists had arisen and blinded love's eyes,
And now she had woven new bonds and new ties,
For life must be lived though its sweetness is fled,
"To-morrow my vows will be spoken," she said.
"Oh! why has he come to rewaken the past?
Why has he sought me, and found me at last?"
