Contents -Volume INDEX -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

The Shadow

By Minot Judson Savage (1841–1918)

IN a bleak land and desolate,

Beyond the earth somewhere,

Went wandering through death’s dark gate

A soul into the air.

And still, as on and on it fled,

A wild, waste region through,

Behind there fell the steady tread

Of one that did pursue.

At last he paused, and looked aback;

And then he was aware

A hideous wretch stood in his track,

Deformed, and cowering there.

“And who art thou,” he shrieked in fright,

“That dost my steps pursue?

Go, hide thy shapeless shape from sight,

Nor thus pollute my view!”

The foul form answered him: “Alway

Along thy path I flee.

I’m thine own actions. Night and day

Still must I follow thee!”