POEMS OLD AND NEW
They had tied her up to attention, with many a
sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel
beneath her breast !
" Now keep good watch ! " and they kissed her. She
heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight ;
Til come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the
way I
She twisted her hands behind her ; but all the knots
held good !
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with
sweat, or blood,
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the
hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, 10
Gold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it ! The trigger at least
was hers !
The tip of one finger touched it ; she strove no more
for the rest !
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath
her breast,
She would not risk their hearing ; she would not strive
again ;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight ;
Blank and bare in the moonlight ;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed
to her love's refrain.
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot I Had they heard it ? The horse-
hoofs ringing clear ;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance ! Were they deaf that
they did not hear ? 20
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