Where a woodland path, like a silver line,
Winds by a woodland river,
And half in shadow, and half in shine,
The alders lean and shiver,
Where a forest bird has built him a nest
Low in the springing grasses,
And all the day long, with her wings at rest,
His mate the slow time passes;
Where a flood of gold through the forest dim
Tells when the noon is strongest,
And a purple fringe on the forest's rim
Proclaims when the shades are longest;
Where the dawn is only known from the night
By the birds that sing their sweetest,
And the twilight hush from the morning light
By the peace that is then completest;
Where only the flood of silvery haze
Shall tell that the moon is risen,
When down from the sky, like a meteor blaze,
Shall flutter her snow-white ribbon,--
I will meet you there, my lady love sweet,
When the weary world is sleeping,
And the frets of the day, that tireless beat,
Are hushed in the night's close keeping;
Not missing the world--by the world unmissed--
We two shall wander together,
And whether we chided, or whether we kissed,
There'll be none to forget or remember;
And when at the last asleep you shall fall,
By the shore of the musical river,
Of the crimson leaves I will weave you a pall,
And kiss you good-by, love, forever.
But the stars up above, and the waters below,
Shall sing of us, over and over;
Of the tryst that we kept in the years long ago,
In the woods by the beautiful river.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from
the original.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:
Page 35: "blase" changed to "blase"
Page 53: "neighors" changed to "neighbors"
Page 98: "patroled" changed to "patrolled"
Page 129: "meed" changed to "need"
Punctuation has been corrected without note.