On Chenoweth’s Run

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I thought of the road through the glen,
  With its hawk's nest high in the pine;
  With its rock, where the fox had his den,
  'Mid tangles of sumach and vine,
  Where she swore to be mine.

  I thought of the creek and its banks,
  Now glooming, now gleaming with sun;
  The rustic bridge builded of planks,
  The bridge over Chenoweth's Run,
  Where I wooed her and won.

  I thought of the house in the lane,
  With its pinks and its sweet mignonette;
  Its fence and the gate with the chain,
  Its porch where the roses hung wet,
  Where I kissed her and met.

  Then I thought of the family graves,
  Walled rudely with stone, in the West,
  Where the sorrowful cedar-tree waves,
  And the wind is a spirit distressed,
  Where they laid her to rest.

  And my soul, overwhelmed with despair,
  Cried out on the city and mart!--
  How I longed, how I longed to be there,
  Away from the struggle and smart,
  By her and my heart!

  By her and my heart in the West,--
  Laid sadly together as one;--
  On her grave for a moment to rest,
  Far away from the noise and the sun,
  On Chenoweth's Run.

© Madison Julius Cawein