"There's a footstep coming; look out and see."
"The leaves are falling, the wind is calling;
No one cometh across the lea."--
"There's a footstep coming; O sister, look."--
"The ripple flashes, the white foam dashes;
No one cometh across the brook."--
"But he promised that he would come:
Tonight, tomorrow, in joy or sorrow,
He must keep his word, and must come home.
"For he promised that he would come:
His word was given; from earth or heaven,
He must keep his word, and must come home.
"Go to sleep, my sweet sister Jane;
You can slumber, who need not number
Hour after hour, in doubt and pain.
"I shall sit here awhile, and watch;
Listening, hoping, for one hand groping
In deep shadow to find the latch."
After the dark, and before the light,
One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping,
Who had watched and wept the weary night.
After the night, and before the day,
One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping--
Watching, weeping for one away.
There came a footstep climbing the stair;
Some one standing out on the landing
Shook the door like a puff of air--
Shook the door and in he passed.
Did he enter? In the room centre
Stood her husband: the door shut fast.
"O Robin, but you are cold--
Chilled with the night-dew: so lily-white you
Look like a stray lamb from our fold.
"O Robin, but you are late:
Come and sit near me--sit here and cheer me."
(Blue the flame burnt in the grate.)
"Lay not down your head on my breast:
I cannot hold you, kind wife, nor fold you
In the shelter that you love best.
"Feel not after my clasping hand:
I am but a shadow, come from the meadow
Where many lie, but no tree can stand.
"We are trees which have shed their leaves:
Our heads lie low there, but no tears flow there;
Only I grieve for my wife who grieves.
"I could rest if you would not moan
Hour after hour; I have no power
To shut my ears where I lie alone.
"I could rest if you would not cry;
But there's no sleeping while you sit weeping--
Watching, weeping so bitterly."--
"Woe's me! woe's me! for this I have heard.
Oh night of sorrow!--oh black tomorrow!
Is it thus that you keep your word?
"O you who used so to shelter me
Warm from the least wind--why, now tlie east wind
Is warmer than you, whom I quake to see.
"O my husband offlesh and blood,
For whom my mother I left, and brother,
And all I had, accounting it good,
"What do you do there, underground,
In the dark hollow? I'm fain to follow.
What do you do there?--what have you found?"--
"What I do there I must not tell:
But I have plenty: kind wife, content ye:
It is well with us--it is well.
"Tender hand hath made our nest;
Our fear is ended, our hope is blended
With present pleasure, and we have rest."--
"Oh but Robin, I'm fain to come,
If your present days are so pleasant;
For my days are so wearisome.
"Yet I'll dry my tears for your sake:
Why should I tease you, who cannot please you
Any more with the pains I take?"