Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-01-01
The Deserted Hon esteNti.
ny BENJAMIN =. TAYLOR.

Full twenty summertimes ago
walked along this country road,
| When life and love were both N blow
And none would dream II ever showed.
| saw u schoolmaam coming down,
Her rippling hair was golden brown;
| saw her firm and slender hand,
! saw her footprints in the sand,
A pnir OF rhymes in dainty type
That brought to mind the old Gazette
| Where village poets used to pipe
The cricket corner where they set
In little letars, chirps of song
| Whose lives were only cricket-lOng-
And read them off, rs children tell
poem by the nonpareil.
turned highwayman as stood
| Beneath those oaks now olden grown,
| And cried. as ruder robbers would,
"'rhy life and treasure are my own ~
| | halted her with loves surprise
And saw my answer in her eyes.
A bee was busy with flower,
bir0 sang tow from maple bower,
The old white school-house swarmel W it'll
noise,
We needed not the Babel rout.
The girls knew better than the boys
What meant the meeting there without,
And smiling stood and watched me hold
Her hand i'll rninc, and ran and told
And some were mothers long ago,
And some caught out in early snow!
Again walked the road and meet
Another schuOlma'am coming down,
Who was not horn when did greet
Her sister of the golden crown.
! told this story to the girl.
Aud something like living pearl
Lit up the eyelid Of the child.
She flashed it off and then u smile,
There should have been bow thought
That sunshine and that drop of rain
And then the present was forgot
And palished days returned again.
This thoughtful sad September day
Has slowly worn itself away,
The sun and moon are face to face
lie wanes in strength, she gains in grace.
1t is not day, it is not night,
Where are the feet that came and WENT
Here stands the homestead still and white
And silent as IL monument,
Its curtaned windows in eclipse,
Its white door fast as marble lips,
Never before were they denied,
The summer flowers and hours outs ilc,
Though tides of fragrance always sweep,
In warmth and light it has no part,
There in the daytime sound asleep
And empty as broken heart
The willow fountain swings and swcrvos
And filings its emerald spray in curves,
Strange since the loved no longer stay,
1t has not wept itself away!
Here round the house the brown paths ran
To linchened gate and stoop and we'll,
Full forty years since they began
10 warm when busy bare-tcet fell. ....-
The wilderness redeems its own,
With clover caves and plantain s5rOwn, .
The old meandels dinlned and srassed,
The surge has washed them out at last,
The dry old grndStonc. crank berett,
Worn like pebble in brook,
And little but the axle left,
Stands idle in that shady nook. t' ...
ALI, lusty times when naked arms
That conquer deserts into farms
Ground on the sickle's edge of wire
Mid sparks of wit and sparks of fire,
And scythes swung down from apple limbs
Where set upon its ripplins rim. ...
Zone arc the arms that turned the crank,
And gone the stroll through grasses rank!
The showers have washe the oolored light
From rainbOws down upon the place,
rbe phlOxcs flame in red and white
The pansies in their violet grace,
The aunty .jaybird's azure flash,
The rubics of the mountain ash,
The dear old aster's gay cockade,
l he naples with their green parade,
The yellow daises prim and clean,
The orange butternut that plays
IN golden leaves upon the green
Its early dues to Autumn days-
All these no weary heart can vile
Like loving smiles from living eyes
That light the Lords last holy smile
To perfect peace and Paradise!
All, flood wood wreck old cider mill
With apple cheese and amber flow,
Where used to gather round thy rill
The boys and bees of long ago
low sweet new apples make the air,
Is fragrance in u maidens har
see their considerations CLEAN
Like planets in a fairy s dream,
Is if the maker should baptize
each new born star he bade ar Use,
In rare perfume, and all should shine
With aromatic light divine
II silence standing on this brink
or desolaton and decay
low in this amber cup drink
10 the dear dead and gone away!