| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | A Parable | | By Louise (Chandler) Moulton (1835–1908) |
| | | I LONGED for rest and some one spoke me fair, | |
| And proffered goodly rooms wherein to dwell, | |
| Hung round with tapestries, and garnished well, | |
| That I might take mine ease and pleasure there; | |
| And there I sought a refuge from despair, | 5 |
| A joy that should my life’s long gloom dispel; | |
| But ominously through those halls there fell | |
| Strange sounds, as of old music in the air. | |
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| As day went down, the music grew apace, | |
| And in the moonlight saw I, white and cold, | 10 |
| A presence radiant in the radiant space, | |
| With smiling lips that never had grown old; | |
| And then I knew the secret none had told, | |
| And shivered there, an alien in that place. | | | | |
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