to know.

There lay the pond, still willow-bound,
On whose bright surface, when the hot
Noon burnt above, we chased the knot
Of water-spiders; while around
Our heads, like bits of rainbow, shot
The dragonflies without a sound.

The pond, above which evening bent
To gaze upon her rosy face;
Wherein the twinkling night would place
A vague, inverted firmament,
In which the green frogs tuned their bass,
And firefly sparkles came and went.

The oldtime woods we often ranged,
When we were playmates, you and I;
The oldtime fields, with boyhood's sky
Still blue above them!--Naught was changed!
Nothing!--Alas, then tell me why
Should we be? whom long years estranged.

WAITING.

Come to the hills, the woods are green--
_The heart is high when_ LOVE _is sweet_--
There is a brook that flows between
Two mossy trees where we can meet,
Where we can meet and speak unseen.

I hear you laughing in the lane--
_The heart is high when_ LOVE _is sweet_--
The clover smells of sun and rain
And spreads a carpet for our feet,
Where we can sit and dream again.

Come to the woods, the dusk is here--
_The heart is high when_ LOVE _is sweet_--
A bird upon the branches near
Sets music to our hearts' glad beat,
Our hearts that beat with something dear.

I hear your step; the lane is passed;--
_The heart is high when_ LOVE _is sweet_--
The little stars come bright and fast,
Like happy eyes to see us greet,
To see us greet and kiss at last.

CONTRASTS.

No eve of summer ever can attain
The gladness of that eve of late _July_,
When 'mid the roses, filled with musk and rain,
Against the wondrous topaz of the sky,
I met you, leaning on the pasture bars,--
While heaven and earth grew conscious of the stars.

No night of blackest winter can repeat
The bitterness of that _December_ night,
When at your gate, gray-glittering with sleet,
Within the glimmering square of window-light,
We parted,--long you clung unto my arm,--
While heaven and earth surrendered to the storm.

IN _June_.

Deep in the West a berry-coloured bar
Of sunset gleams; against which one tall fir
Is outlined dark; above which--courier
Of dew and dreams--burns dusk's appointed star.
And flash on flash, a