At Castle Wood

The day is done, the winter sun
Is setting in its sullen sky;
And drear the course that has been run,
And dim the hearts that slowly die.

No star will light my coming night;
No morn of hope for me will shine;
I mourn not heaven would blast my sight,
And I ne'er longed for joys divine.

Through life's hard task I did not ask
Celestial aid, celestial cheer;
I saw my fate without its mask,
And met it too without a tear.

The grief that pressed my aching breast
Was heavier far than earth can be;
And who would dread eternal rest
When labour's hour was agony?

Dark falls the fear of this despair
On spirits born of happiness;
But I was bred the mate of care,
The foster-child of sore distress.

No sighs for me, no sympathy,
No wish to keep my soul below;
The heart is dead in infancy,
Unwept-for let the body go.

---

Come, Walk With Me

Come, walk with me,
    There's only thee
    To bless my spirit now
    We used to love on winter nights
    To wander through the snow;
    Can we not woo back old delights?
    The clouds rush dark and wild
    They fleck with shade our mountain heights
    The same as long ago
    And on the horizon rest at last
    In looming masses piled;
    While moonbeams flash and fly so fast
    We scarce can say they smiled

    Come walk with me, come walk with me;
    We were not once so few
    But Death has stolen our company
    As sunshine steals the dew
    He took them one by one and we
    Are left the only two;
    So closer would my feelings twine
    Because they have no stay but thine

    'Nay call me not, it may not be
    Is human love so true?
    Can Friendship's flower droop on for years
    And then revive anew?
    No, though the soil be wet with tears,
    How fair soe'er it grew
    The vital sap once perished
    Will never flow again
    And surer than that dwelling dread,
    The narrow dungeon of the dead
    Time parts the hearts of men'