| |
| THE WIND of death that softly blows | |
| The last warm petal from the rose, | |
| The last dry leaf from off the tree, | |
| To-night has come to breathe on me. | |
| |
| There was a time I learned to hate | 5 |
| As weaker mortals learn to love; | |
| The passion held me fixed as fate, | |
| Burned in my veins early and late; | |
| But now a wind falls from above, | |
| The wind of death, that silently | 10 |
| Enshroudeth friend and enemy. | |
| |
| There was a time my soul was thrilled | |
| By keen ambition’s whip and spur; | |
| My master forced me where he willed, | |
| And with his power my life was filled, | 15 |
| But now the old-time pulses stir | |
| How faintly in the wind of death! | |
| That bloweth lightly as a breath. | |
| |
| And once, but once, at Love’s dear feet, | |
| I yielded strength, and life, and heart; | 20 |
| His look turned bitter into sweet, | |
| His smile made all the world complete; | |
| The wind blows loves like leaves apart, | |
| The wind of death, that tenderly | |
| Is blowing ’twixt my love and me. | 25 |
| |
| O wind of death, that darkly blows | |
| Each separate ship of human woes | |
| Far out on a mysterious sea, | |
| I turn, I turn my face to thee. | |
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