LONELY DAYS

Lonely her fate was,

Environed from sight

In the house where the gate was

Past finding at night.

None there to share it,

No one to tell:

Long she'd to bear it,

And bore it well.

Elsewhere just so she

Spent many a day;

Wishing to go she

Continued to stay.

And people without

Basked warm in the air,

But none sought her out,

Or knew she was there.

Even birthdays were passed so,

Sunny and shady:

Years did it last so

For this sad lady.

Never declaring it,

No one to tell,

Still she kept bearing it -

Bore it well.

The days grew chillier,

And then she went

To a city, familiar

In years forespent,

When she walked gaily

Far to and fro,

But now, moving frailly,

Could nowhere go.

The cheerful colour

Of houses she'd known

Had died to a duller

And dingier tone.

Streets were now noisy

Where once had rolled

A few quiet coaches,

Or citizens strolled.

Through the party-wall

Of the memoried spot

They danced at a ball

Who recalled her not.

Tramlines lay crossing

Once gravelled slopes,

Metal rods clanked,

And electric ropes.

So she endured it all,

Thin, thinner wrought,

Until time cured it all,

And she knew nought.