Last night, while sunset burned across the land
And lit with glowing mystery the sea,
I slept; and in my dreams I saw her
stand
stand
At heaven’s western archway, wistfully.
She pushed the crimson cloud-portières aside
With a still movement of her slender arm,
Sickling one hand above her dear eyes, wide
With that deep sweetness wherein lay her charm
Of old, and sent a long look thro’ the maze
Of blending rose and violet and gold,
While close about her pink cloud-draperies rolled.
Looked, leaned and beckoned. Then―a blur of haze!
The clouds burned down to ashes gray and sere,
And waking―lo! I heard Death’s breathing near.
“The Summons” as it appears in Higginson’s When the Birds Go North Again (1898).