The Heart's Call

HE rides away at early light,
Amid the tingling frost,
And in the mist that sweeps her sight
His form is quickly lost.

He crosses now the silent stream,
Now skirts the forest drear,
Whose thickets cast a silver gleam
From leafage thin and sear.

Long falls the shadow at his back
(The morning springs before) ;
His thoughts fly down the shadowed track,
And haunt his cottage door.

Miles gone, upon a hilltop bare,
He draws a sudden rein :
His name, her voice, rings on the air,
Then all is still again !

She sits at home, she speaks no word,
But deeply calls her heart;
And this it is that he has heard,
Though they are miles apart.