Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Lewis FrankTooker

1241 His Quest

WHAT seek’st thou at this madman’s pace?

“I seek my love’s new dwelling place:

Her house is dark, her doors are wide,

There bat and owl and beetle bide,

And there, breast-high, the rank weeds grow,

And drowsy poppies nod and blow.

So mount I swift to ride me through

The world to find my love anew.

I have no token of the way;

I haste by night, I press by day.

Through busy cities I am borne,

On lonely heights I watch the morn

Climb up the east, and see the light

Of waning moon gleam thwart my flight.

Sometimes a light before me flees;

I follow it, till stormy seas

Break wide before, then all is dark.

Sometimes on plains, wide, still, and stark,

I hear a voice; I seek the sound,

And ride into a hush profound.

To find her dwelling I will ride

Worlds through and through, whate’er betide.”

To find her dwelling rode he forth,

In vain rode south, in vain rode north;

In vain in mountain, plain, and mart

He searched, but never searched his heart.