And she looks so old,

So drawn, so cold—

Send Sorrow away.

[Pg 23]

[Pg 23]

Alas!

So softly Time trod with me, that I lost

His footsteps pacing mine. I stayed the while

To wrest the luscious fruits from love and life;

He strode on pauselessly, with thin cold smile.

So surely Time trod with me; marred my bloom,

Stole all my roses, spread his cobwebs grey,

Wrung all my tresses in his silvering hand;

So stealthily he lured my youth away

I only learned that I was old—to-day.

I could have borne it bravely, this I know,

Had not the lips of children told me so.

[Pg 24]

[Pg 24]

A Sacrament

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