Or kiss, or farewell kind --
But oh! my heart was sore to think
Of friends I left behind.

We rode o'er hills that seemed to sweep
Skyward like swelling waves;
The living stirred not in their sleep,
The dead slept in their graves.

And ever as we rode I heard
A moan of anguish sore --
No voice of man or beast or bird,
But all of these and more.

"Is it the moaning of the Earth?
Dark Rider, answer me!"
"It is the cry of life at birth"
He answered quietly:

"But thou canst turn a face of cheer
To good days still in store;
Thou needst not care for Pain or Fear --
They cannot harm thee more."

Yet I rode on with sullen heart,
And said with breaking breath,
"If thou art he I think thou art,
Then slay me now, O Death!"

The veil was from my eyesight drawn --