Afterwhiles by James Whitcomb Riley
page 67 of 121 (55%)
page 67 of 121 (55%)
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Thy harvest-armies gather on parade;
While faint and far away, yet pure and clear, A voice calls out of alien lands of shade--: All hail the Peerless Goddess of the Year! _Silence_ Thousands of thousands of hushed years ago, Out on the edge of Chaos, all alone I stood on peaks of vapor, high upthrown Above a sea that knew nor ebb nor flow, Nor any motion won of winds that blow, Nor any sound of watery wail or moan, Nor lisp of wave, nor wandering undertone Of any tide lost in the night below. So still it was, I mind me, as I laid My thirsty ear against mine own faint sigh To drink of that, I sipped it, half afraid 'Twas but the ghost of a dead voice spilled by The one starved star that tottered through the shade And came tiptoeing toward me down the sky. _Sleep_ Thou drowsy god, whose blurred eyes, half awink Muse on me--, drifting out upon thy dreams, I lave my soul as in enchanted streams Where revelling satyrs pipe along the brink, |
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