Niece Hester, spread it on my bed—my eyes grow blind with tears;
I touch its limp and yellow folds, and lo! the long dead years
Come trooping back like churchyard ghosts. This was my wedding-gown—
'Twas made the year the equinox brought woe to Gloucester town.
"Ah, I remember well the night I walked the beach with him—
The moon was rising just above the ocean's purple rim,
And all the savage Cape Ann rocks shone in her mellow light;
The time was spring, and heaven itself seemed close to us that night.
We heard the cool waves beat the shore, the seabird's startled cry;
Like spirits in the dark, we saw the coasters flitting by.