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

By SophieJewett

1501 “If Spirits Walk”

IF spirits walk, love, when the night climbs slow

The slant footpath where we were wont to go,

Be sure that I shall take the selfsame way

To the hill-crest, and shoreward, down the gray,

Sheer, gravelled slope, where vetches straggling grow.

Look for me not when gusts of winter blow,

When at thy pane beat hands of sleet and snow;

I would not come thy dear eyes to affray,

If spirits walk.

But when, in June, the pines are whispering low,

And when their breath plays with thy bright hair so

As some one’s fingers once were used to play—

That hour when birds leave song, and children pray,

Keep the old tryst, sweetheart, and thou shalt know

If spirits walk.