Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/408

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SONGS AND BALLADS

The feast may go on, and the music
Be scattered in ecstasy round,—
Thy whisper, "I love thee! I love thee!"
Hath flooded my soul with its sound.


I think not of time that is flying,
How short is the hour I have won,
How near is this living to dying,
How the shadow still follows the sun;
There is naught upon earth, no desire,
Worth a thought, though 't were had by a sign!
I love thee! I love thee! bring nigher
Thy spirit, thy kisses, to mine.


THE SUN-DIAL

"Horas non numero nisi serenas"

Only the sunny hours
Are numbered here,—
No winter-time that lowers,
No twilight drear.
But from a golden sky
When sunbeams fall,
Though the bright moments fly,—
They're counted all.


My heart its transient woe
Remembers not!
The ills of long ago
Are half forgot;
But Childhood's round of bliss,
Youth's tender thrill,
Hope's whisper, Love's first kiss,—
They haunt me still!


Sorrows are everywhere,
Joys—all too few!

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