Then and Now
1872-1918
Beneath her window in the fragrant night
I half forget how truant years have flown
Since I looked up to see her chamber-light,
Or catch, perchance, her slender shadow thrown
Upon the casement; but the nodding leaves
Sweep lazily across the unlit pane,
And to and fro beneath the shadowy eaves,
Like restless birds, the breath of coming rain
Creeps, lilac-laden, up the village street
When all is still, as if the very trees
Were listening for the coming of her feet
That come no more; yet, lest I weep, the breeze
Sings some forgotten song of those old years
Until my heart grows far too glad for tears.
DayPoems Poem No. 1099
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1099.html">Then and Now by John McCrae</a>
The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor
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