Dear child, you will be well again!"

Again the marvellous days are here;

Warm on my cheek the sunshine burns,

And fledged birds chirp, and far and near

Floats the strange sweetness of the ferns.

But down these ways I walk alone,

Tearless, companionless, and dumb,—

Or rest upon this way-side stone,

To wait for one who does not come.

Yet all is even as I foretold: