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1837–1913

IX.

Joaquin Miller

All night the tall magnolia kept Kind watch above the nameless tomb: Two shapes kept waiting in the gloom And gray of morn, where roses wept.

The dew-wet roses wept; their eyes All dew, their breath as sweet as prayer. And as they wept, the dead down there Did feel their tears and hear their sighs.

The grass uprose as if afraid Some stranger foot might press too near; Its every blade was like a spear, Its every spear a living blade.

The grass above that nameless tomb Stood all arrayed, as if afraid Some weary pilgrim seeking room And rest, might lay where she was laid.

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IX. · Joaquin Miller · Poetry Cove