Page:The Voice of the Valley, by Yone Noguchi; 1897.djvu/45

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The Night Reverie in the Forest

Five miles I traveled—the black-robed bird-monk had ended his last prayer, a good-night hymn;
Ten miles,—I lost the home window-light that bids Sorrow and Tears depart like masterless dogs;
Twenty miles,—the eloping mother-moon had abandoned her child, my lonely soul.
Thou Darkness, bewailing thy desertion by Light, I deplore my like fate, echoing thy saddest strain!—
Friend Night, my tears overflow from the love-fountain unto the sorrow-made dells!
I, an idle singer, fleeing from the world's shame, make a pilgrimage to an unknown land—O Heaven—or Hell?

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