Page:The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter.djvu/283

“I see the roses blossom on the roof,”
The child replied, and raised a wondering gaze;
“I hear the birds' glad singing in the woods,
The sun shines ever through the long, sweet days.”

He laid in each sad grasp his fingers small.
Lo, then, the woman said, “The roses see!
They cling upon the roof like amber rain:
For them the birds do sing a melody.”

“And see,” the man replied, “how fair the sun
Doth warm the earth into a thousand flowers;
See the long shadows of the poplars move:
Short is the day that hath such golden hours.”

“Will you not stay and teach us to be glad?”
The woman cried, “we then indeed were blessed.”
“I am but little to go forth alone,”
The babe replied, and nestled to her breast

And so he stayed for many years to play
Beside her hearth, and at each purple eve,
When came the man soft singing from his work,
All full of dreams he could but half believe,

The woman met him on their threshold, spoke
In solemn wonder, with a “Hush!” and “Hark!”
“To-day he drove out Sorrow from the door:
With his small hands he shut her in the dark.”

Or, “Go you soft: he slumbers like a bird
That nests, half-singing in his pleasant sleep
To-day from our hearth-side he thrust out Grief—
This wonder-child did laugh to see her weep.”

So stayed the child and played before the door,
And if a rose in languor over-sweet
Would fall upon his way, the woman kissed
The dimpled arches of his little feet;