The clock dictates its old refrain:
All else is quiet; or, far away,
Shaking the world with new-born day,
There thunders past some mighty train:
The clock dictates its old refrain.
IX
The Dawn peers in with blood-shot eyes:
The crust, the broken cup are there!
She does not rise yet to prepare
Her scanty meal. God does not rise
And pluck the blood-stained sheet from her;
But Dawn peers in with haggard eyes.
THE DREAM-CHILD'S INVITATION
I
Once upon a time!—Ah, now the light is burning dimly.
Peterkin is here again: he wants another tale!
Don't you hear him whispering—The wind is in the chimley,
The ottoman's a treasure-ship, we'll all set sail?
II
All set sail? No, the wind is very loud to-night:
The darkness on the waters is much deeper than of yore.
Yet I wonder—hark, he whispers—if the little streets are still as bright
In old Japan, in old Japan, that happy haunted shore.
III