Volume 2 — From Chamber's Journal. WINTER SIGNS.
Reading edition
Links upon the forehead come— Strokes alike of time and grief, Branches from the heart beneath That will never bear a leaf. Come the summer, come the spring, Still they keep their wintry hue; Deepening, stretching o'er the brow. Shadows lift them into view. Straight and crooked, right and left. On the strong and on the weak— Upward to the hoary head. Downward to the hollow cheek. Shadows from the life within, Tarrying ere they pass away, Plant these stems of sorrow there, Growing in the night and day. Light that fills the eye afresh From some inward moving grace, Casting from it, as a sun. Quiet rays upon the face— Makes these ruts of time appear Winding, widening in their space, Drawing loving eyes and thoughts All their history to trace. Whilst upheaved by a smile, Radiant in the breast of light, These eternal scores of grief Tell of many an inner night. Stories come up from their roots. Half unfolded in their course, Showing how a hundred pangs Long ago became their source.
{199}