All are scattered now and fled,
Some are married, some are dead;
And when I ask, with throbs of pain. 
“Ah! when shall they all meet again?”
As in the days long since gone by,
The ancient timepiece makes reply,—­
      “Forever—­never! 
      Never—­forever!”

Never here, forever there,
Where all parting, pain, and care,
And death, and time shall disappear,—­
Forever there, but never here! 
The horologe of Eternity
Sayeth this incessantly,—­
      “Forever—­never! 
      Never—­forever!”

THE ARROW AND THE SONG

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

SONNETS

MEZZO CAMMIN

Half of my life is gone, and I have let
  The years slip from me and have not fulfilled
  The aspiration of my youth, to build
  Some tower of song with lofty parapet. 
Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret
  Of restless passions chat would not be stilled,
  But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,
  Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;
Though, half way up the hill, I see the Past
  Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—­
  A city in the twilight dim and vast,
With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights.—­
  And hear above me on the autumnal blast
  The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.

THE EVENING STAR

Lo! in the painted oriel of the West,
  Whose panes the sunken sun incarnadines,
  Like a fair lady at her casement, shines
  The evening star, the star of love and rest! 
And then anon she doth herself divest
  Of all her radiant garments, and reclines
  Behind the sombre screen of yonder pines,
  With slumber and soft dreams of love oppressed. 
O my beloved, my sweet Hesperus! 
  My morning and my evening star of love! 
  My best and gentlest lady! even thus,
As that fair planet in the sky above,
  Dost thou retire unto thy rest at night,
  And from thy darkened window fades the light.

AUTUMN