Poems (Dorr)/Unanswered
UNANSWERED
Where mountain-peaks rose far and highInto the blue, unclouded sky,And waves of green, like billowy seas,Tossed proudly in the freshening breeze,
I rode one morning, late in June.The glad winds sang a pleasant tune;The air, like draughts of rarest wine,Made every breath a joy divine.
With roses all the way was bright;Yet there upon that upland heightThe darlings of the early spring—Blue violets—were blossoming.
And all the meadows, wide unrolled,Were green and silver, green and gold,Where buttercups and daisies spunTheir shining tissues in the sun.
Over its shallow, pebbly bed,A sparkling river gayly sped,Nor cared that deeper waters boreA grander freight from shore to shore.
It sung, it danced, it laughed, it played,In sunshine now, and now in shade; While every gnarled tree joyed to makeA greener garland for its sake.
Deep peace was in the summer air,A peace all nature seemed to share;Yet even there I could not fleeThe shadow of life's mystery!
A farm-house stood beside the way,Low-roofed and rambling, quaint and gray;And where the friendly door swung wideRed roses climbed on either side.
And thither, down the winding roadNear which the sparkling river flowed,In groups, in pairs, the neighbors pressed,Each in his Sunday raiment dressed.
A sober calm was on each face;Sweet stillness brooded o'er the place;Yet something of a festal airThe youths and maidens seemed to wear.
But, as I passed, an idle breezeSwept through the quivering maple-trees;Chased by the winds in merry rout,A fair, light curtain floated out.
And this I saw: .a quiet roomAdorned with flowers of richest bloom—A lily here, a garland there—Fragrance and silence everywhere.
Then on I rode. But if a brideShould there her happy blushes hide,Or if beyond my vision laySome pale face shrouded from the day,
I could not tell. O joy and Pain,Your voices join in one refrain!So like ye are, we may not knowIf this be gladness, this be woe!