Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Search

The rain falls long, and the rain falls light,
   With a desolate drip--drop, sad to hear.
But never a star shines through the night
   As I sit afar, from the world anear.

Down in the parlour some one sings;
   The children laugh in the nursery hall;
But my heart like a bird has spread its wings,
   And leaves the music, and mirth, and all.

Out in the rain and the eerie night,
   Into the darkness it speeds away.
Ah me! ah me! ’tis a gruesome flight,
   Seeking for you till the dawn of day.

If it only knew which way to go;
   Where you wander, or where you lie.
To valleys of sunshine, or hills of snow,
   Thither at once my heart would fly.

Fly and follow wherever you led,
   Over the desert and over the wave;
Or if it found you lying dead,
   It would sit in the rain by your lonely grave.

Sit in the rain, and cover the grass
   With passionate kisses above your face.
Sit there waiting till death should pass,
   And bear it to you in his strong embrace.

But hither and thither all is vain,
   It flies in the darkness, and seeks for you.
Back in the morning, drenched with rain,
   The poor thing cometh with never a clue.

But all night long the rain falls down,
   Like a poor crazed thing that has lost its way,
Through the forest and through the town
   It searches for you till the break of day.

1. Worldly Wisdom
2. I Shall Not Forget
3. At Eleusis
4. Be Not Attached
5. The Black Man's Claim

George Herbert The Search ("Whither, O, whither art thou fled")

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