West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1878-01-26
IN THE STREET
BY oIoRaE z. EAaLEs.


The calm moon arose on the still rerose
Oi the city hushed In slnmber,
And the midnight bell sounded out the kncli
That echoed the hours number.
The winters pale shrund like beecy cloud
The wanderers footsteps mufiicd,
As the chilly blast thai went Whistling past
The featnery mantle ruiied
In the cold. cold street With faltering feet.
No hope for the dim Tomorrow,
Seeking dreamless rest for her tortured breast,
She rOamed with her aching sorrow.
Awaiting Der doom in the lonely gloom,
For the unseen presence yearuing.
With a haunted brain. aud the fevered pain
Ia her troubled bosom burning.
The silver stars shed 'rouud her dropping head
Their beams. With their glow adjoining
Where the hope had ned, where the heart vas
Dead dead to the worlds cold scorning.
The bloom Of her youth, With its wealth Of truth,
The blush aud the smile had faded.
The loves that had clung. the Joys that had hung,
BY the robe Of sin were shaded.
And the city slept as she trembling erspt
Along in the sOmher stiffness,
As she sought relief for her shsrne and griei.
For the spirits haunting illness
Still yearning TO lie meath the clear, cold sky,
Down TO her death UNDECIDED:
And longing to clasp, with fervent grasp,
The balm that her lone heart needed.
so meagerly clad. forsaken and sad
In the shadowed arch she hovers,
While she tries 20 clutch, with tremulous touch,
The garment that scarcely covers;
And faint aud more faint her murmuring plant
To the piercing wind she utteTs,
And the seanty shawl, mid the shades that fall,
In the bleak air streams and iutters.
The snow wreaths that drift, that gather and llft,
Their crests la her weird seeming
Grow cleaning aud fair TO the wand'rer there,
And soft meath the still moons bcamng.
The light billows daze her tear-clouded gaze,
As the frost-misis lightly cluster,
And the fair flakes pres with fond caTeEs,
Blown round by the winters bluster.
When 80 earth-light dims, and her nervelcss
SINK aosn till she feels the cliuglng
OF the frost-couch warm to her wearied form,
Sweet rest in the stiffness bringing.
Tins calmly she slept while the bright stars kept
Their guard DER Che slumb'ring city,
AID tenderly shed on her resting head
The rays of their silent pity.
The withering blight Of the wintry night,
-, The winds In tlcir hungry breathing,
The pierolns sting of the grim ice-kiDg,
Fantastic diadems wreathing,
Brought slumber at last, mid the moaning blast
And amid the BELLS clear peaing
She felt sweet release and soothing peace
Ger her iainting senses stealing.
Out, out In the street, amid storm and fleet,
Thus they found her, softly sleeping;
Her griefstricken heart had ceased its wild start
And her eyes had ceased their weeping.
In the gloom alone her spirit had flown,
No watcher bad sOothed her dying,
None knew OF the prayer that was murmeTed there,
Mid the cheerless night winds signing.
No mourner stood near, none gave her a tear,
No ltngering touch caressed her;
Not a soothing word thl ough the stiffness stirred
And no mothers whisper blest her.
The pallid, worn face had lost its fair grace
A her eyes their girlish cleaning,
But the pale gold hair like glory rare
Fell around her in her dream. x.
Nobody e'er knew the sorrow tba, groU
The grief tdat her Young life wasted;
And noneknew the blame, nor the burning shame
OF the cup her lips had tasted.
Thus nameless she lay in The morning gray,
And rigid and still they found her,
slumbering In peace, mid the storm shroud's
That lovingly. fondly bound her.
Mayhap there is dearth by the homestead's hearth,
And mourning and sadness rally
Round the quiet home where she used 10 roam,
Away In some estling valley.
Where they long 60 bear some tidings Of cheer,
Where they wall and silent lste
A the night falls round and storms abound
And the warm tears rise and glisten.
Tha mother who weeps and tenderIy keeps
Her watch as the even lowers,
Never more will greet the pattering feet
That gladdened the Olden hours;
She will wait and yearn for her child's return,
And wonder that thus she fingers
Till she seems TO feel. the shadows steal
The touch Of her darling's fingers.
Fond bosoms may burn. but will never learn
Her fate, nor the sad'ning story
OF the grief and pain, the blighting stain,
That olOuded her young life's glory.
They will never know. rs the seasons flow,
How she wandered lost and weeping,
TIL she felt the balm, and tho soothing calm
OF the doath-sleep over her creeping.
How she saw again the far-away glen,
That lay meath the blue-peakd mountains.
Where, joyous girl she had watched the purl
OF its brooks and bubbling fountains;
How amid her dreams the musical streams
OF her childhood flowed around her,
And the teaming glow Of their silver flow
10 its sweet enfOlding bound her.
lis tale that's old, that is often told,
Alike Of the high and lOwly;
its murmurings fall In hovel and hail.
And speak 10 the pure and holy,
To look TO the lost thusihopelessy tossed
ON the waves Of the restless city,
And bid them come in from the pain and dn
To their hearts, their loves, their pity.