Poems (Kennedy)/The Last Patteran
THE LAST PATTERAN[1]
I TREAD the old paths where we walked I So many seasons, side by side,And laughed to see the golden daysIn bloomy sheaf or snowy maze Glide noiselessly, as shadows glide.
I know each turning of the road, Each little wilding glen and glade—Where poppies swoon, where brown leaves drift,Where scarlet woodbine trumpets sift, Where phantom thistles masquerade.
On every singing mile you set Some sign that shall forever stay,And though, through all the weary yearsI walk alone and blind with tears, I shall not miss the way.
And as you marked that old-time trail, I know, when death calls from a-far,That somewhere, somehow I shall seeYou've laid love's patteran for me From star to voiceless star.
And I shall follow where you passed, Fearless, as in the long-ago;And though all other eyes than mineShall miss each tender, secret sign, I shall not fail—I'll know, I'll know.
- ↑ Gypsy trail mark.