MY COMRADE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2401, 16 January 1909, Page 10 (Supplement)

MY COMRADE.

She does not come on summer days, Or on. those nights Avhen moonlight fills f lic garden. Avith a glimmering haze ; A ncl in tho time of daffodils Far, far apart from mo she stays'. But Avhen on stormy nights I go Down the shadowy lawns, by Ayhisping woods, She paces with me to and fro, And takes a thousand varying moods, As winds that know not aa' hence they blow. I hear the rustic of her dross, A light kiss falls upon my hair,— She seems so near —F. turn to bless Her company, —but darkness th.ciq Holds mocking depths of emptiness. Anon she murmurs: “I am nigh, ()h-, dearest, listen! 1 am near." I. hear the light step’flitting by. And borne upon the Avind J. hoar, “Oh, dearest, dearest, it is I!” Ah, God 1 For just . one moment’s

To hold her to my heart again ! Down, down tho woodland paths I Mv arras outstretched to her; —the rain Falls like soft tears upon my face. But always out of reach, tho cry Comes sobbing back among the trees, “Oh dearest, dearest, it is I!” And through the thunder of the seas* “Oh, dearest, listen! I am nigh.” Still, still slic leads,mo on apace, And still I follow, calling her, Until, through well-known lueudow-

Avays, And down dark avenues of fir. (She leads me to the Peaceful Place. There, sheltered from tho storms that

rave Without the ancient guardian Avail, Lio those avlio hear. nor wind noi Avavo, — - , j And there she leaves me, though 1 ■fall To bitter Aveeping. by her graA^o. Ina M. Steuuiu", in tlio. Spectator.