COULD Time's advancing leave but slender screen

Before I sit beside you, hear you speak,

How swift these gloomy skies would be swept clean,

How deft a motion gained by wheels that creak !

In dreams your voice is known, with hated end

Of solitary waking to an unshared light,-—

Most bitter mirage that will never blend

With nearness deemed, the certainties of sight.

Days come. . are worthless pebbles thrown aside

By one who searches on the shelving years

For that sole diamond who shall glint and guide

Because the continuing beauty that it bears

Is living light, a gratefulness, a pride

When tallied minds have wiped out stale arrears.