O the dark hours when I knelt by your grave,
Calling upon you to love and to save,-
Pleading in vain for a sign or word
Only to tell me you listen'd and heard,—
Only to say you remember'd and knew
How all my soul was in anguish for you;
Bitter, despairing, the tears that I shed,
Darling, O darling, because you were dead!
O the black days of your absence, my own!
O to be left in the wide world alone!
Long, with our little one clasp'd to my breast,
Wander'd I, seeking for refuge and rest;
Yet all the world was so careless and cold,
Vainly I sought for a sheltering fold ;-
There was no roof and no home for my head,
Darling, O darling, because you were dead!

Yet, in the midst of the darkness and pain,
Darling, I knew I should find you again!
Knew, as the roses know, under the snow,
How the next summer will set them aglow;
So did I always, the dreary days through,
Keep my heart single and sacred to you,
As on the beautiful day we were wed,
Darling, O darling, although you were dead!

O the great joy of awaking, to know
I did but dream all that torturing woe!
O the delight, that my searching can trace
Nothing of coldness or change in your face!
Still is your forehead unfurrow'd and fair;
None of the gold is lost out of your hair,
None of the light from your dear eyes has
fled-

Darling, O how could I dream you were dead?

Now you are here, you will always remain,
Never, O never to leave me again!

How it has vanish'd, the anguish of years!
Vanish'd! nay, these are not sorrowful tears,—
Happiness only my cheek has impearl'd,-
There is no grieving for me in the world;
Dark clouds may threaten, but I have no fear,
Darling, O darling, because you are here!
Elizabeth Akers.

1943.-KISSES.

The kiss of friendship, kind and calm,
May fall upon the brow like balm;

A deeper tenderness may speak
In precious pledges on the cheek;
Thrice dear may be, when young lips meet,
Love's dewy pressure, close and sweet ;-
But more than all the rest I prize
The faithful lips that kiss my eyes.
Smile, lady, smile, when courtly lips
Touch reverently your finger-tips;

Blush, happy maiden, when you feel
The lips which press love's glowing seal;
But as the slow years darklier roll,
Grown wiser, the experienced soul

Will own as dearer far than they
The lips which kiss the tears away!

Elizabeth Akers.

1944.-ROCK ME TO SLEEP.

Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,

Make me a child again just for to-night!
Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
Take me again to your heart as of yore;
Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my
hair;

Over my slumbers your loving watch keep ;-
Rock me to sleep, mother, -rock me to sleep!

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears,-
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,-
Take them, and give me my childhood again!
I have grown weary of dust and decay,—
Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away;
Weary of sowing for others to reap ;-
Rock me to sleep, mother,-rock me to sleep!

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!
Many a summer the grass has grown green,
Blossom'd and faded, our faces between :
Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain,
Long I to-night for your presence again.
Come from the silence so long and so deep ;-
Rock me to sleep, mother,-rock me to sleep!

Ovor my heart, in the days that are flown,
No love like mother-love ever has shone ;
No other worship abides and endures,-
Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours:
None like a mother can charm away pain
From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.
Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids

creep ;

Rock me to sleep, mother,-rock me to sleep!

Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,

Fall on your shoulders again as of old;
Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
For with its sunny-edged shadows once more
Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore;
Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep ;-
Rock me to sleep, mother,-rock me to sleep!

Mother, dear mother, the years have been long
Since I last listen'd your lullaby song:
Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem
Womanhood's years have been only a dream.

Clasp'd to your heart in a loving embrace,
With your light lashes just sweeping my fa:
Never hereafter to wake or to weep ;-
Rock me to sleep, mother,-rock me to sle
Elizabeth Akc

1945.-LOST.

The word has come ;-go forth

An outcast and a blot upon the earth;
Lo, the fierce angel, with his sword of flame.
And brow of bitter blame,

Stands at the portal, and commands thee,hark!

"Go forth into the dark,
The blind and pitiless dark,
Perdita!"

Go forth into the storm,

Wrap the rough sackcloth round thy delica form,

Since torn for ever thence

Are the fair garments of thine innocence, Which not by prayer, nor penance, nor mudiy pain,

Can be made white again,
Perdita!

Nay, it is vain to plead,-
There is no hand to help, no ear to heed,—

Not even his, whose art

Did win and cast aside thy credulous heart,Who from thy forehead gather'd ruthlessly The luminous lilies of white Purity,

And planted there instead

Shame's heavy blossoms, broad and scarletred,

Perdita!