IS over—all over!" the mourner said. "My love, in the grave of my love, lies dead: Barren of bloom as yon wintry tree, Lifeless and chill, is the heart of me!
"I shall smile no more: a tale that is told
Is the rapture of being. Now would I were old, Who wearying years would no longer see Stretching away unendingly!
"What value has Time? The last to-morrow
For me will hold but the one, one sorrow
Which, lone, I still shall endure, forlorn
As the bird that, above me, its mate doth mourn."
Full wearily wasted the months; and still
Guarding his grief with a constant will, It chanced that the mourner, one halcyon day, Wandering sadly the self-same way,
Beheld, half doubting, the wintry tree
A bower of blossom—a thing to see!—
And heard with emotion the sad bird sing:—
"O beauty! O love! O delight!—It is Spring!"