The two still sat together there,
The red light shone about their knees;
But all the heads by slow degrees
Had gone and left that lonely pair.
O voyage fast!
O vanished past!
The red light shone upon the floor
And made the space between them wide;
They drew their chairs up side by side,
Their pale cheeks joined, and said, "Once more!"
O memories!
O past that is!
George Eliot [1819-1880]
THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE
"Somewhere," he mused, "its dear enchantments wait,
That land, so heavenly sweet;
Yet all the paths we follow, soon or late,
End in the desert's heat.
"And still it lures us to the eager quest,
And calls us day by day"—
"But I," she said, her babe upon her breast
"But I have found the way."
"Some time," he sighed, "when youth and joy are spent,
Our feet the gates may win"—
"But I," she smiled, with eyes of deep content,
"But I have entered in."
Emily Huntington Miller [1833-1913]