Classic Poem

I have bidden two of my neighbors
A long farewell to-day.
Both were going on a journey,
And both were going to stay.

One, with eyes that were misty,
Like skies all heavy with rain,
Said, " In the years that are coming,
We may somewhere meet again. "

She was bound for Dakotah:
And watching the wagons go —
White-covered, heavily laden,
Clogged with the early snow.

I thought of the bleak, cold prairies,
Of the toil for many a day,
With the storms of wild November
Howling along the way.

The other lay cold and silent;
Said naught, nor clasped my hand;
And we were friends — ah, speechless
Men go to the silent land!

Mute, and pale, and speechless
This wild October day,
He passed down into the shadows —
Into the shadows gray.

And he has finished his journey;
The pain and the toil are o'er;
Nobly he wrought his life-work,
Bravely his burdens bore.

To-night the winds are raving;
The snow falls over his head;
Yet he turns not on his pillow,
Stirs not in his lowly bed.

So gone are two of my neighbors;
Empty their places stand.
One has gone to Dakotah,
And one to the silent land.