Poem by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman

Second Series. 16. Under the mountain, as when first I knew

Under the mountain, as when first I knew
Its low dark roof and chimney creeper-twined,
The red house stands; and yet my footsteps find,
Vague in the walks, waste balm and feverfew.
But they are gone: no soft-eyed sisters trip
Across the porch or lintels; where, behind,
The mother sat, sat knitting with pursed lip.
The house stands vacant in its green recess,
Absent of beauty as a broken heart.
The wild rain enters, and the sunset wind
Sighs in the chambers of their loveliness
Or shakes the pane -- and in the silent noons
The glass falls from the window, part by part,
And ringeth faintly in the grassy stones.

1. First Series. 7. Dank fens of cedar, hemlock branches gray
2. Third Series. 4. Thin little leaves of wood fern, ribbed and toothed
3. Second Series. 7. His heart was in his garden; but his brain
4. First Series. 8. As when down some broad river dropping, we
5. First Series. 5. And so the day drops by, the horizon draws

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