Lonely Days

Lonely her fate was,     Environed from sight     In the house where the gate was     Past finding at night.     None there to share it,     No one to tell:     Long she'd to bear it,     And bore it well.     Elsewhere just so she     Spent many a day;     Wishing to go she     Continued to stay.     And people without     Basked warm in the air,     But none sought her out,     Or knew she was there.     Even birthdays were passed so,     Sunny and shady:     Years did it last so     For this sad lady.     Never declaring it,     No one to tell,     Still she kept bearing it -     Bore it well.     The days grew chillier,     And then she went     To a city, familiar     In years forespent,     When she walked gaily     Far to and fro,     But now, moving frailly,     Could nowhere go.     The cheerful colour     Of houses she'd known     Had died to a duller     And dingier tone.     Streets were now noisy     Where once had rolled     A few quiet coaches,     Or citizens strolled.     Through the party-wall     Of the memoried spot     They danced at a ball     Who recalled her not.     Tramlines lay crossing     Once gravelled slopes,     Metal rods clanked,     And electric ropes.     So she endured it all,     Thin, thinner wrought,     Until time cured it all,     And she knew nought.     Versified from a Diary.