PRAIRIE

Where yesterday rolled long waves of gold

Beneath the burnished blue of the sky,

A silver-white sea lies still and cold,

And a bitter wind blows by.

But nothing passes the door all day,

Though my watching eyes grow worn and dim,

Save a lean, grey wolf that swings away

To the far horizon rim.

Then, one by one, the stars glisten out

Like frozen tears on a purple pall —

The darkness folds my cabin about

And the snow begins to fall.

I will make a hearth-fire red and bright

And set a light by the window pane

For one who follows the trail to-night

That will bring him home again.

Love will ride with him my heart to bless —

Joy will out-step him across the floor —

What matters the great white loneliness

When we bar the cabin door?