“There’s a footstep coming: look out and see.”—
“The leaves are falling, the wind is calling;
No one cometh across the lea.”—
“There’s a footstep coming: O sister, look.”—
“The ripple flashes, the white foam dashes;
No one cometh across the brook.”—
“But he promised that he would come:
To-night, to-morrow, in joy or sorrow,
He must keep his word, and must come home.”
“For he promised that he would come:
His word was given; from earth or heaven,
He must keep his word, and must come home.”
“Go to sleep, my sweet sister Jane;
You can slumber, who need not number
Hour after hour, in doubt and pain.”
“I shall sit here awhile, and watch;
Listening, hoping, for one hand groping
In deep shadow to find the latch.”
After the dark, and before the light,
One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping,
Who had watched and wept the weary night.
After the night, and before the day,
One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping,—
Watching, weeping for one away.
There came a footstep climbing the stair;
Some one standing out on the landing
Shook the door like a puff of air,—
Shook the door, and in he passed.
Did he enter? In the room centre
Stood her husband: the door shut fast.
“O Robin, but you are cold,—
Chilled with the night-dew: so lily-white you
Look like a stray lamb from our fold.”
“O Robin, but you are late:
Come and sit near me,—sit here and cheer me.”—
(Blue the flame burnt in the grate.)
“Lay not down your head on my breast:
I cannot hold you, kind wife, nor fold you
In the shelter that you love best.”
“Feel not after my clasping hand:
I am but a shadow, come from the meadow
Where many lie, but no tree can stand.”
“We are trees which have shed their leaves:
Our heads lie low there, but no tears flow there;
Only I grieve for my wife who grieves.”
“I could rest if you would not moan
Hour after hour; I have no power
To shut my ears where I lie alone.”
“I could rest if you would not cry;
But there’s no sleeping while you sit weeping,—
Watching, weeping so bitterly.”—
“Woe’s me! woe’s me! for this I have heard.
O, night of sorrow!—O, black to-morrow!
Is it thus that you keep your word?”
“O you who used so to shelter me
Warm from the least wind,—why, now the east wind
Is warmer than you, whom I quake to see.”
“O my husband of flesh and blood,
For whom my mother I left, and brother,
And all I had, accounting it good,”
“What do you do there, underground,
In the dark hollow? I’m fain to follow.
What do you do there?—what have you found?”—
“What I do there I must not tell;
But I have plenty. Kind wife, content ye:
It is well with us,—it is well.”
“Tender hand hath made our nest;
Our fear is ended, our hope is blended
With present pleasure, and we have rest.”—
“O, but Robin, I’m fain to come,
If your present days are so pleasant;
For my days are so wearisome.”
“Yet I’ll dry my tears for your sake:
Why should I tease you, who cannot please you
Any more with the pains I take?”