Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/688

672 CORNELIA W. LAWS. [1850-60. Could it be the wind a-sighing, Through the grass, in riplets hieing, Further on, further on, Chasing, racing, down the lawn ! Much I fear, much I fear No one said it, very near. Fireflies in the ravine glimmer. And the maples growing dimmer, Quiet from the hill-side fade ; What if some one false has played ? " Never fear ! never fear ! " I'm sure I heard it, very near. I shall surely soon be weeping — E'en the roses, seem as peeping, Curious thi'ough the garden gate. Softly saying, " He is late." And they seem to start with fear. As they blow the gate-post near. Now with bent heads low they whisper. Telling how " he came and kissed her. Later yet, one time before. Sweetly kissed her o'er and o'er ; " " See that shadow ! now I fear, Some one must be very near — Else the moon in sport hath made it, And slyly on the grass hath laid it " — Ah ! but from behind the post. Some one glideth, light as ghost. Saying, " Now for every tear, Thou art doubly, doubly dear." If the one you loved had said it. If in dark eyes you had read it. Would you not forget the pain He had caused you, in your gain ? Notwithstanding all your fears. Notwithstanding all your tears ? THE SHADOW. The moonlight stole softly o'er the quiet hill-tops. Tracking all with its footprints of gold ; The forest, the fountain, the meadow, the copse, Had borrowed a beauty untold. In the tress of the willow, the zephyrs ca- ressed, With their songs making tuneful the night, And the silken-leaved lily, with the dew on its breast, From its covert blinked out at the light. Blithe chirpings rose up from the glad in- sect throng, And the whippowil grieved in the glen; ! why was my heart so touched by its song ? O ! why did the tears gather then ? Long, long, had I listened a footfall to hear, Down the slope where the violets peep, But moments seemed lengthened to hours so drear. And I sunk on the casement to weep. But tears trickled o'er a cheek flushed with hope. And were all gathered home in a smile. For a footstep fell lightly on the meadow's green slope. And a shadow fell over the stile.