Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/50

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OLD TRAILS

The pounding wave reverberates The dirge of her illusion; And home, where passion lived and died, Becomes a place where she can hide, While all the town and harbor side Vibrate with her seclusion.
We tell you, tapping on our brows, The story as it should be,— As if the story of a house Were told, or ever could be; We'll have no kindly veil between Her visions and those we have seen,— As if we guessed what hers have been, Or what they are or would be.
Meanwhile we do no harm ; for they That with a god have striven, Not hearing much of what we say, Take what the god has given; Though like waves breaking it may be, Or like a changed familiar tree, Or like a stairway to the sea Where down the blind are driven.


OLD TRAILS

(Washington Square)

I met him, as one meets a ghost or two, Between the gray Arch and the old Hotel. "King Solomon was right, there's nothing new," Said he. "Behold a ruin who meant well."

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