ROAD’S END.
The old wife by the grave-stone stands
And looketh far away;
Her eyes are deep as pools of rain
Twilit at close of day.
“God rest ye, husband of my flesh—
Life-Stranger to my soul—
I pray thy spirit goes to seek
Some dear-desired goal.”
“How long, how long, the way chance willed,
We journeyed side by side,
Yet never met at stile or gate—
I was thy body’s bride!
That far-off day, our wedding day,
I dreamed as women will—
The heart a-hungered and alone
Is lone and hungered still.”
“Four hands won roof and goods and gear
And ploughed and gleaned and spun—
Two stranger hearts the world apart
Sat down when toil was done.
God rest ye now beyond the end;
God light the way ahead—
And that the living eyes were blind,
Lay sight upon the dead.”