Poems / by Madison Cawein ; with a foreward by William Dean Howells [electronic text]

REQUIEM

I

No more for him, where hills look down, Shall Morning crown Her rainy brow with blossom bands!—The Morning Hours, whose rosy hands Drop wildflowers of the breaking skies Upon the sod 'neath which he lies.—No more for him! No more! No more!

II

No more for him, where waters sleep, Shall Evening heap The long gold of the perfect days! The Eventide, whose warm hand lays Great poppies of the afterglow Upon the turf he rests below. — No more for him! No more! no more!

III

No more for him, where woodlands loom, Shall Midnight bloom

The star-flowered acres of the blue! The Midnight Hours, whose dim hands strew Dead leaves of darkness, hushed and deep, Upon the grave where he doth sleep. — No more for him! No more! No more!

IV

The hills, that Morning's footsteps wake: The waves that take A brightness from the Eve; the woods And solitudes, o'er which Night broods, Their Spirits have, whose parts are one With him, whose mortal part is done. Whose part is done.