The Ballad of the Quest

by Virna Sheard

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The lines in brackets are supposed to be sung or chanted. The Southern "Mammy" seldom sang a song through, but interlaced it with comments.—V.S.

WHEN JONQUILS BLOW

When jonquils blow I think of one
Who sleeps beneath the green;
And all the light and song of life
And all the golden sheen,
Turn cold and still before my eyes,
While pearl-edged boughs of May
Seen through a sudden mist of tears
Are rimmed with ashen-gray.

LAMENT

Here in my garden where the tulips grow
I walk alone;
Dim are my eyes with tears, my feet are slow,
My heart is stone;
Though all the lovely earth again for me
New sweetness yields
It matters not,—only the dead I see
On battlefields.

Only the dead I see,—and strangely bright
Their faces shine
As though the God of Glory in the night
Had made them fine.
Place for the victors! Stoop my soul to touch
Their tunics' hem,—
'Tis those they loved who need tears overmuch
O weep for them!