THE BURIAL PLACE



A HILL-TOP that looks far above the throng
Of brother hills, and into widening vales
Wherein the brooks slip onward to the sea.
A place for castle in old war-worn lands
When might was master: here, the silent hold
Where sleep the dead in earth that looks to sky
For the brave trust in all that dwelleth there.
Here lies the dust of kindred, sire and son,
Mother and daughter. Generations on
Have here won rest and the abiding peace
The summits only know. One tall shaft lifts,
With lesser clustered round it as they group
The children of a house about its hearth
Before the time for sleep. Hereto have come
An old man and a youth in ancient quest
Of place for one more grave, where she shall bide
Who long hath striven faithfully to serve
God's will on earth. And as they silent go
With look to far and near, that she may lie
Where it is fairest, he, the elder, stoops
Beside a gravestone where rude wheels have cut
A deep, now moss-grown scar; and from the earth
He lifts the shreds as though on them were writ
Legend of ancient days, then looks away
To read again the past they tell to him.