THE LAST SIGNAL (Oct. 11, 1886) A MEMORY OF WILLIAM BARNES

Silently I footed by an uphill road

That led from my abode to a spot yew-boughed;

Yellowly the sun sloped low down to westward,

And dark was the east with cloud.

Then, amid the shadow of that livid sad east,

Where the light was least, and a gate stood wide,

Something flashed the fire of the sun that was facing it,

Like a brief blaze on that side.

Looking hard and harder I knew what it meant

-- The sudden shine sent from the livid east scene;

It meant the west mirrored by the coffin of my friend there,

Turning to the road from his green,

To take his last journey forth - he who in his prime

Trudged so many a time from that gate athwart the land!

Thus a farewell to me he signalled on his grave-way, As with a wave of his hand.

Winterborne-Came Path.