| |
| “I CAN scarcely hear,” she murmured, | |
| “For my heart beats loud and fast, | |
| But surely, in the far, far distance, | |
| I can hear a sound at last.” | |
| “It is only the reapers singing, | 5 |
| As they carry home their sheaves, | |
| And the evening breeze has risen, | |
| And rustles the dying leaves.” | |
| |
| “Listen! there are voices talking.” | |
| Calmly still she strove to speak, | 10 |
| Yet her voice grew faint and trembling, | |
| And the red flushed in her cheek. | |
| “It is only the children playing | |
| Below, now their work is done, | |
| And they laugh that their eyes are dazzled | 15 |
| By the rays of the setting sun.” | |
| |
| Fainter grew her voice, and weaker | |
| As with anxious eyes she cried, | |
| “Down the avenue of chestnuts, | |
| I can hear a horseman ride.” | 20 |
| “It was only the deer that were feeding | |
| In a herd on the clover grass, | |
| They were startled, and fled to the thicket, | |
| As they saw the reapers pass.” | |
| |
| Now the night arose in silence, | 25 |
| Birds lay in their leafy nest, | |
| And the deer couched in the forest, | |
| And the children were at rest: | |
| There was only a sound of weeping | |
| From watchers around a bed, | 30 |
| But Rest to the weary spirit, | |
| Peace to the quiet Dead! | |
| |
