One more step and it all is done. 
  Only a shriek the midnight breaks—­
Only a splash in the waves below,
  A wider ripple the water makes. 
The rock is bare by the ocean side—­
A death-white face with the ebbing tide
Is floating away from the headland bold—­
          Out in the cold.

A lifeless form, in the wintry dawn,
  Left on the sand by a rising swell;
A story of weakness, shame, and wrong
  Mutely the frozen features tell. 
Noiseless falls on it, the tears of dew,
  Over it softly the breezes blow;
Wavelets, kissing the tangled hair,
  Murmur a requiem sad and low. 
Out to the barren, bleak hillside
  Rough hands bear it with scorn and jest. 
Cradled once in a mother’s arms—­
  Once by a mother’s fond lips pressed—­
Under the clods of a new-made grave;
  A rough-hewn board at the foot and head,
Where never a flower of love shall wave;
  Left with the city’s nameless dead—­
Left with her fate unwept, untold—­
          Out in the cold.

* * * * *

TO JENNIE.

Farewell my darling, fare thee well,
  Life hence has only dearth;
With thee it were too sweet a dream—­
  Too much Heaven, for earth. 
Thou dost not know the depth of pain
  This parting gives to me,
Nor how, as time drags weary on,
  My soul will sigh for thee.

Each loved one that thou leavest here,
  Some other love may wear,
Each heart will have some other heart
  Its loneliness to share. 
But I have nothing, darling, left—­
  You’re all the world to me—­
And only God and Heaven can know
  The love I give to thee.

WATCHING THE SHADOWS.

Watching the shadows, the fire-light shadows,
  That gather and play on the wall;
Dark, flitting shadows, fanciful shadows,
  That gather and rise and fall. 
Reading the fire shadows’ language of shadows,
  Pages of darkness and light—­
        Watching, watching,
  Watching the shadows to-night.

Watching the shadows, the fire-light shadows,
  That over the wall fitful play;
Dreaming of shadows, dreaming of shadows,
  Deep darker shadows than they. 
Heart-shading shadows, soul-darkening shadows,
  Flitting in memory’s light—­
        Dreaming, dreaming,
Watching the shadows to-night.

Watching the shadows, the fire-light shadows,
  Merrily dancing about,
Wondering if heart-shadows vanish like shadows,
  When life’s fitful flame has gone out;
Wondering if shadows are deep, darker shadows,
  Aeons of ages of blight;
        Wondering, wondering,
  Watching the shadows to-night.

I GIVE THEE BACK MY HEART.

I give thee back thy fickle heart,
  Thy faithless vows I’ve spurned,
I bury deep the blighted hopes
  That in my bosom burned.