Where? Based Upon a Folk-Song in the Bard of the Dimbovitza

SHE went away, at the break of day,
And a child in her arms she bore.
I asked the roads which way she went,
I hunted for her till day was spent,
But she returned no more.

“ Have you seen a woman and child to-day ? ”
I say to the people I meet on the way.
But no one seems to see ;
They pass me by, without reply,
Too busy to answer me.

Sullen and slow, I go
To the river, and, watching the flow
Of its waves that seaward roll,
I say to the river, “ What sings in thee ? ”
It answers me,
“ Only a baby’s soul.”

I fly to the poplars, — why
I know not, for all I see,
Ghostly and ominous, troubles me.
The long limbs tremble, and every leaf
(They are numberless) is a tongue of grief,
And every sound a sigh.
“Tell me, before we part,
Poplars, that peak and pine,
If you have aught that is mine.”
“ Naught that is thine ;
Only a woman’s heart.”

They passed away, at the break of day,
They are not on land or sea:
They have flown afar, where the angels are,
And both have forgotten me!