2
SONGS, LEGENDS, AND BALLADS.
And one saw naught but a sign of rain,
And feared for his sheaves unbound;
And one is away, over mountain and plain,
Till the mystical treasure is found!
Through forest and stream, in a blissful dream.
The rainbow lured him on;
With a siren's guile it loitered awhile,
Then leagues away was gone.
Over brake and brier he followed fleet;
The people scoffed as he passed;
But in thirst and heat, and with wounded feet,
He nears the prize at last.
It is closer and closer—he wins the race—
One strain for the goal in sight:
Its radiance falls on his yearning face—
The blended colors unite!
He laves his brow in the iris beam—
He reachesAh woe! the sound
From the misty gulf where he ends his dream,
And the crystal cup is found!
