Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864)

“I CAN scarcely hear,” she murmured,

“For my heart beats loud and fast,

But surely, in the far, far distance,

I can hear a sound at last.”

“It is only the reapers singing,

As they carry home their sheaves,

And the evening breeze has risen,

And rustles the dying leaves.”

“Listen! there are voices talking.”

Calmly still she strove to speak,

Yet her voice grew faint and trembling,

And the red flushed in her cheek.

“It is only the children playing

Below, now their work is done,

And they laugh that their eyes are dazzled

By the rays of the setting sun.”

Fainter grew her voice, and weaker

As with anxious eyes she cried,

“Down the avenue of chestnuts,

I can hear a horseman ride.”

“It was only the deer that were feeding

In a herd on the clover grass,

They were startled, and fled to the thicket,

As they saw the reapers pass.”

Now the night arose in silence,

Birds lay in their leafy nest,

And the deer couched in the forest,

And the children were at rest:

There was only a sound of weeping

From watchers around a bed,

But Rest to the weary spirit,

Peace to the quiet Dead!