Of one day seeing heaven too. The police
Shall track her, hound her, ferret their own soil;
We’ll dig this Paris to its catacombs
But certainly we’ll find her, have her out,
And save her, if she will or will not—child
Or no child,—if a child, then one to save!
The long weeks passed on without consequence.
As easy find a footstep on the sand
The morning after spring-tied, as the trace
Of Marian’s feet between the incessant surfs
Of this live flood. She may have moved this way,—
But so the star-fish does, and crosses out
The dent of her small shoe. The foiled police
Renounced me; ‘Could they find a girl and child,
No other signalment but girl and child?
No data shown, but noticeable eyes
And hair in masses, low upon the brow,
As if it were an iron crown and pressed?
Friends heighten, and suppose they specify:
Why, girls with hair and eyes are everywhere
In Paris; they had turned me up in vain
No Marian Erle indeed, but certainly
Mathildes, Justines, Victoires, . . or, if I sought
The English, Betsis, Saras, by the score.
They might as well go out into the fields
To find a speckled bean, that’s somehow specked,
And somewhere in the pod.’—They left me so.
Shall I leave Marian? have I dreamed a dream?
