Destroyers and Other Verses/Anniversary

by Henry Head

 

Anniversary.

I dreamt I through a cemetery went,
Where lay the dead it seemed so hard to lose,
And by each tombstone, mound and monument,
Stood a down-trodden, dust-stained pair of shoes.

And one beside me whispered, "Do not weep,
They but await the call that must begin
Another day; each body here doth sleep
Throughout the night, as at a quiet Inn.

"Though many fell asleep with tired eyes,
Stained by the dust on life's malodorous way,
With that new dawn each traveller will arise,
Cleansed and refreshed to face another day."

February 17th, 1857.