Of those who came no more.

Yet clear above that portal plain was writ,

Confronting each at length alone to pass

Out of its beauty into night star-lit,

That worn 'Alas!'

[Pg 64]

[Pg 64]

THE LISTENERS

'Is there anybody there?' said the Traveller,

Knocking on the moonlit door;

And his horse in the silence champed the grasses

Of the forest's ferny floor:

And a bird flew up out of the turret,

Above the Traveller's head:

And he smote upon the door again a second time;

'Is there anybody there?' he said.

But no one descended to the Traveller;

No head from the leaf-fringed sill

Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,

Where he stood perplexed and still.

 Prev. P 51/72 next