Straw in the street where I pass to-day Dulls the sound of the wheels and feet. ’Tis for a failing life they lay Straw in the street. Here, where the pulses of London beat, Someone strives with the Presence grey; Ah, is it victory or defeat? The hurrying people go their way, Pause and jostle and pass and greet; For life, for death, are they treading, say, Straw in the street? _Between the Showers._ [Illustration: text decoration] Between the showers I went my way, The glistening street was bright with flowers; It seemed that March had turned to May Between the showers. Above the shining roofs and towers The blue broke forth athwart the grey; Birds carolled in their leafless bowers. Hither and thither, swift and gay, The people chased the changeful hours; And you, you passed and smiled that day, Between the showers. _Out of Town._ [Illustration: text decoration] Out of town the sky was bright and blue, Never fog-cloud, lowering, thick, was seen to frown; Nature dons a garb of gayer hue, Out of town. Spotless lay the snow on field and down, Pure and keen the air above it blew; All wore peace and beauty for a crown. London sky, marred by smoke, veiled from view, London snow, trodden thin, dingy brown, Whence that strange unrest at thoughts of you Out of town? _The Piano-Organ._ [Illustration: text decoration] My student-lamp is lighted, The books and papers are spread; A sound comes floating upwards, Chasing the thoughts from my head. I open the garret window, Let the music in and the moon; See the woman grin for coppers, While the man grinds out the tune. Grind me a dirge or a requiem, Or a funeral-march sad and slow, But not, O not, that waltz tune I heard so long ago. I stand upright by the window, The moonlight streams in wan:-- O God! with its changeless rise and fall The tune twirls on and on. _London Poets._ (IN MEMORIAM.) They trod the streets and squares where now I tread, With weary hearts, a little while ago; When, thin and grey, the melancholy snow Clung to the leafless branches overhead; Or when the smoke-veiled sky grew stormy-red In autumn; with a re-arisen woe Wrestled, what time the passionate spring winds blow; And paced scorched stones in summer:--they are dead. The sorrow of their souls to them did seem As real as mine to me, as permanent. To-day, it is the shadow of a dream, The half-forgotten breath of breezes spent. So shall another soothe his woe supreme-- “No more he comes, who this way came and went.” _The Village Garden._ TO E. M. S.