Pike County Ballads and Other Poems

ON PITZ LANGUARD.

  I stood on the top of Pitz Languard,
    And heard three voices whispering low,
  Where the Alpine birds in their circling ward
    Made swift dark shadows upon the snow.

  First Voice.

  I loved a girl with truth and pain,
    She loved me not.  When she said good-bye
  She gave me a kiss to sting and stain
    My broken life to a rosy dye.

  Second Voice.

  I loved a woman with love well tried,—
    And I swear I believe she loves me still.
  But it was not I who stood by her side
    When she answered the priest and said "I will."

  Third Voice.

  I loved two girls, one fond, one shy,
    And I never divined which one loved me.
  One married, and now, though I can't tell why,
    Of the four in the story I count but three.

  The three weird voices whispered low
    Where the eagles swept in their circling ward;
  But only one shadow scarred the snow
    As I clambered down from Pitz Languard.