Page:Poems Dorr.djvu/247

THE DIFFERENCE

Only a week ago and thou wert here!
 I touched thy hand, I saw thy dear, dark eyes,
I kissed thy tender lips, I felt thee near,
 I spake, and listened to thy low replies,

To-day what leagues between us! Hill and vale,
 The rolling prairies and the mighty seas;
Gray forest reaches where the wild winds wail,
 And mountain crests uplifted to the breeze!

So far thou art, who wert of late so near!
 The stars we watched have changed not in the skies;
Still do thy hyacinth bells their beauty wear,
 Yet half a continent between us lies!

But swift as thought along the "singing wires"
 There flies a message like a bright-winged bird—
"All's well! All's well!" and ne'er from woodland choirs
 By gladder music hath the air been stirred!

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But thou, O thou, who but a week ago
 Passed calmly out beyond our yearning gaze,
As some grand ship, all solemnly and slow,
 Sails out of sight beyond the gathering haze—

Oh, where art thou? In what far distant realm,
 What star in yon resplendent fields of light,