The free press., 1893-06-15

ugDau ~
Nav is passing;
ua The apple boughs pigeon Coos
Hannah shudders,
-,I,d ooutbwester mischief brews.
!" Pound the rocks of Marblehead'
outward bound schooner spe''
Silent, lonesome,
.,,0 a. the window, binding shoes.
n
Sailing away!
,..., ,be breath of the shores in May,
manning n,o down from the beautiful bay
Avon tbe sea slope vast and gray!
And And the skipper's eyes with a mist are
blind,
,o, vision comes on the rising wind
NJ. GENTLE face that he leaves behind
,,s hoort that throbs through the fog
bank dim,
Thinking of him.
Far into night
10 watches the gleam of the lessening light
pi,ed on the dangerous island height
That bsrs the harbor he loves from sight.
And be wishes. at dawn, he could tell the
tale
n bow they weathered the southwest gale,
ro brichten the cheek that had grown so
pale
With vakeful night among spectres grim
Terrors for him.
Yo-heave-yo!
Here, the bank where the fishermen 60.
Over the schooner's side they throw
Tackle and bait to the deeps below.
And Skipper Ben in the water sees,
When its ripples curl to the light land
breeze,
Something that stirs like his apple trees,
Aud two soft eyes that beneath them swim,
Lifted to him.
Hear the wind roar,
Ind the rain through the slit sails tear and
pour
STEADY we'll scud by the Cape Ann shore,
lahark to the Beverly bells once more"
lpasch man worked with the will Of ten;
TiAup in the rigging, now and then,
fAEghtning glared in the face of Ben,
Tuned to the black horizons rim,
Scowling ON him.
Into his brain
Burned with the iron of hopeless pain,
Ilto thoughts that grapple and eyes that
strain,
Rerces the memory, cruel and vain
| Never again shall he walk at ease
| Under the bossoming apple trees
That whisper and sway to the sunset breeze,
While soft eyes float where the sea gulls
skim.
Gazing with him.
How they went down
Never was known in the still old town.
Nobody guessed how the fisherman brown,
With the look Of despair that was half a
frown,
raced bis fate In the furious night
Faced the mad pillows with hunger white,
Just within hail of the beacon light
ihat shone on a woman sweet and trim,
Waiting for him.
Beverly bells
klng to the tide as it ebbs and swells!
dis was the anguish moment tells
iAe Passionate sorrow death quickly knells.
Dul the wearing wash of lifelong woe
Niell Tor the desolate heart to know,
whose tides with the dull years come and
go,
I'LL nope drifts dead to It's stagnant brim,
Thinking OF him.
Poor lone Hannah,
''ing atthe window binding shoes,
Faded, wrinkled,
'"'lng, stitching, In mournful muse,
nilght'eyed beauty once was she,
"nen the bloom was on the tree;
= Spring and Winter,
nannah's at the window, binding shoes.
|, Not neighbor
''''hs nod or answer will refuse
o 10 her whisper:
40 Inefe from the fishers any news?
on' her hearts adrift with one
on an endless voyage gone
p Night and morning,
A'nhahs at the window, binding shoes.
y 'Tls November.
'O" no tear her wasted cheek bedews.
y, From Newfoundland
wv asa asa'i returning will she lose,
whispering hoarsely, FISHERMEN,
nave you, have you heard OF Benz
H. old with watching,
''"Dan's at the window, binding shoes.
n, Twenty Winters
''saeh and tear the ragged shore she views.
Twenty seasons
'''er e one has brought her any news.
., o,''' her dim eyes silently
Nnase the white sails o'er the sea.
u. Hopeless, faithful,
. at The window, binding shoes.
-lJucy Larcom.
MA UrD NV