Poems

<h2><SPAN name="A_SHADOW" id="A_SHADOW"></SPAN>A SHADOW.</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE world to-day is radiant, as I ne'er<br/></span> <span class="i2a">Could picture it in wildest dreaming, when<br/></span> <span class="i2">For long, long hours I lay in flowery glen<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or wooded copse, and tried in vain to tear<br/></span> <span class="i0">The glamour from my eyes, and face the glare<br/></span> <span class="i2">And tumult of the busy world of men.<br/></span> <span class="i2">I staked my all, and won! and ne'er again<br/></span> <span class="i0">Can my blest spirit know a heart's despair.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And yet&mdash;and yet&mdash;why should it be that now,<br/></span> <span class="i2">When all my heart has longed for is at last<br/></span> <span class="i3">Within my grasp, and I should be at rest,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A ghostly Something rising in the glow<br/></span> <span class="i3">Of Love's own fire, an uninvited guest,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Taunts me with just one memory of the past!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />