Nature-notes and impressions : in prose and verse / by Madison Cawein [electronic text]

MENDICANTS

Bleak, in dark rags of clouds, the day begins, That passed so splendidly but yesterday Wrapped in magnificence of gold and gray. And poppy and rose. Now, burdened as with sins, Their wildness clad in fogs, like coats of skins, Tattered and streaked with rain, gaunt, clogged with clay, The mendicant Hours take their sombre way Westward o'er Earth, to which no sunray wins. Their splashing sandals ooze; their footsteps drip, Puddle and brim with moisture; their sad hair Is tagged with haggard drops, that with their eyes' Slow streams are blent; each sullen fingertip Rivers; while 'round them, in the drenchéd air, Wearies the wind of their perpetual sighs.