THE VACANT ROOM.

Otago Witness, Volume 02, Issue 2420, 2 August 1900, Page 56

THE VACANT ROOM.

This was hei dainty bedroom, So white, so pure, so still, Her snowy bed, her bird-cage, Her rose tree on the sill. The rose,' alas! has perish'd, The little bird has fled, And Helen — sweet young HelenIs sleeping with the dead. When from the flower-wreathed casement She leant with airy grace, The rose-bucis clustered round her And nestled to her face: And the -birds broke forth m singing, And the mists they swept away, For the radiance about lie.* "Was like the dawn of day. One eve, beneath her vinSTow — It seems so long ago — I stood and watched her figure Pass flashing to and fro. So lightly lell her "shadow Upon the lamp-lit blind, It seemW pome farry &pirit Of light v;as hid behind. I loved, O friend, I loved her! And she her love confess'd, On that dark night, when dying, She lay upon my breast. Not my strong arms around her, Claspt in a passionate fear, Nor tears, like torrents bursting, Could keep my darling here! The roon? is white and lonely, It wears the look of dedth; The flowers they strewed upen her Left here their dying breath. O'er all around is brooding A shadow of decay, And a mournful, whispering quiet That speaks of hei away. -H. J. B. July, 1900.