Poems (Procter)/Waiting

by Adelaide Anne Procter

For works with similar titles, see Waiting.

WAITING.

HEREFORE dwell so sad and lonely
 By the desolate sea-shore,
With the melancholy surges
 Beating at your cottage door?

"You shall dwell beside the castle
 Shadowed by our ancient trees;
And your life shall pass on gently,
 Cared for, and in rest and ease."

"Lady, one who loved me dearly
 Sailed for distant lands away;
And I wait here his returning
 Hopefully from day to day.

"To my door I bring my spinning,
 Watching every ship I see;
Waiting, hoping, till the sunset
 Fades into the western sea.

"After sunset, at my casement,
 Still I place a signal light;
He will see its well-known shining
 Should his ship return at night,

"Lady, see your infant smiling,
 With its flaxen curling hair,—
I remember when your mother
 Was a baby just as fair.

"I was watching then, and hoping:
 Years have brought great change to ally
To my neighbors in their cottage,
 To you nobles at the hall.

"Not to me,—for I am waiting,
 And the years have fled so fast,
I must look at you to tell me
 That a weary time has past!

"When I hear a footstep coming
 On the shingle—years have fled—
Yet amid a thousand others,
 I shall know his quick, light tread.

"When I hear (to-night it may be)
 Some one pausing at my door,
I shall know the gay, soft accents,
 Heard and welcomed oft before!

"So each day I am more hopeful,
 He may come before the night;
Every sunset I feel surer
 He must come ere morning light.

"Then I thank you, noble lady,
 But I cannot do your will:
Where he left me he must find me,
 Waiting, watching, hoping, still!"