Before I came to view the levelled scene.

I looked for him behind an isle of trees;

I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.

But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,

And I must be, as he had been,—alone,

“As all must be,” I said within my heart,

“Whether they work together or apart.”

But as I said it, swift there passed me by

On noiseless wing a bewildered butterfly,

Seeking with memories grown dim over night