There in the firelight glitter of gold,
God make me strong!
A little red slipper I tremulous hold.
Lost for so long.
So musty and faded, mouldy with years,
Where hidden and how!
Here, after searching, much passion and tears.
Come to me now.
“What is in hiding? Oh, track me the way—
Find her, my hound!”
Up the steep stairs he goes, eager for play,
Gambolling around.
Up to the turret room, close to the wall,
Barking he goes;
Tears till the wainscoting crumbling falls
Under his blows.
Rotten with age, here a panel unseen
Slips 'neath my hand;
Into the silence of love that has been,
I shuddering stand.
This is the secret hidden away.
Built in the wall—
Between the two houses a room cold and gray,
Gloomy and small.
Huddled and crumbling, stretched on the ground,
Mould and decay;
Dust to dust mingled, the secret is found.
So here they lay.
In one embrace down the desolate years
Over my head
Did they lie smiling and know of my tears,
Cruel and dead.
3
