C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
William Edmondstoune Aytoun (1813–1865)
The Refusal of Charon
“W
So gloomy and so drear?
Are rain-clouds passing o’er them,
Or is the tempest near?”—
“No shadow of the tempest
Is there, nor wind, nor rain,—
’Tis Charon that is passing by,
With all his gloomy train.
In all their strength and pride;
The tender little infants,
They totter by his side;
The old men walk behind him,
And earnestly they pray—
Both old and young imploring him
To grant some brief delay.”—
By yonder little town,
Or near that sparkling fountain,
Where the waters wimple down!
The old will drink and be refreshed,
The young the disk will fling,
And the tender little children
Pluck flowers beside the spring.”—
Nor halt by any town,
Near any sparkling fountain,
Where the waters wimple down:
The mothers coming to the well
Would know the babes they bore;
The wives would clasp their husbands,
Nor could I part them more.”