Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Robert BurnsWilson

1052 Ballad of the Faded Field

BROAD bars of sunset-slanted gold

Are laid along the field, and here

The silence sings, as if some old

Refrain, that once rang long and clear,

Came softly, stealing to the ear

Without the aid of sound. The rill

Is voiceless, and the grass is sere,

But beauty’s soul abideth still.

Trance-like, the mellow air doth hold

The sorrow of the passing year;

The heart of Nature groweth cold,

The time of falling snow is near;

On phantom feet, which none may hear,

Creeps—with the shadow of the hill—

The semblance of departed cheer,

But beauty’s soul abideth still.

The dead, gray-clustered weeds enfold

The well-known summer path, and drear

The dusking hills, like billows rolled

Against the distant sky, appear.

From lonely haunts, where Night and Fear

Keep ghostly tryst, when mists are chill,

The dark pine lifts a jaggëd spear,

But beauty’s soul abideth still.

Dear love, the days that once were dear

May come no more; life may fulfill

Her fleeting dreams with many a tear,

But beauty’s soul abideth still.