“Before the Dawn.”
Before the dawn begins to glow,
A ghostly company I keep;
Across the silent room they creep,
The buried forms of friend and foe.
Amid the throng that come and go,
There are two eyes that make me weep;
Before the dawn begins to glow,
A ghostly company I keep.
Two dear dead eyes. I love them so!
They shine like starlight on the deep;
And often when I am asleep
They stoop and kiss me, bending low,
Before the dawn begins to glow.
Samuel Minturn Peck.