Two Lives

In a still twilight one sits very still, —
There is no light of rapture in her eyes,
But they are peaceful as the twilight skies.
Life's joy is past; past also is Life's ill;
Soon sleep with dreamless rest her heart shall fill.
Through sunset wastes, where many a wild bird flies,
Thrilling the lurid glow with short, sharp cries,
Wheeling above great waves made strong to kill.

Up a precipitous, unflowering way.
Where salt sea-grasses shiver drearily,
One labors on, toward the disastrous sea.
Moaning, " We were together in Life's day,
But now the night is on us, where are we?"
And the waves, answering, thunder, "Where are they?"