FOREVER and ever the reddening leaves Float to the sodden grasses, Forever and ever the shivering trees Cower and shriek to the chilling breeze That sweeps from the far-off sudden seas, To wither them as it passes. Forever and ever the low gray sky Stoops o'er the sorrowful earth; Forever and ever the steady rain Falls on bare bleak hill and barren plain, And flashes on roof and window-pane, And hisses upon the hearth. Forever and ever the weary thoughts Are tracing the selfsame track Forever and ever, to and fro, On the old unchanging road they go, Through dreaming and waking, through joy and woe, Calling the dead hours back. Forever and ever the tired heart Ponders o'er the evil done; Forever and ever through cloud and gleam, Tracing the course of the strong life-stream, And dreary and dull as the broken dream, Forever the rain rains on. |