As his lady's robe of white?

Did you not see beside him
A guest unasked, unbid?
Who came up the aisle with silent feet
And gazed at him? he did!

He saw her eyes upon him,
He felt her icy breath;
And under the bride's warm clinging hand
There crept the touch of death.

And above the low responses
There fell upon his ear
A voice forbidding the nuptial banns;
But no one else could hear.

And when the ring was given,
And when the prayer was said,
He knew, as he led his bride away,
That he was not truly wed.

And while they sat at the banquet,
And mirth flowed like the wine,
A dead girl's voice hissed in his ear,
'You are not hers, but mine.'

Oh! never beside his hearthstone,
And never in any place,
Shall he be free from the haunting thought
Of that accusing face.

BEST

In the gruesome night and the wintry weather,
I watched two dear friends die,
And I buried them both in one grave together.
Oh! who is so sad as I?
For the old love, and the old year,
They both have passed away;
And I never can find the old cheer
Come what will or may.

I heard the bell in the tall church steeple
Clang out a joyful strain.
And I thought, 'Of all the great world's people,
I have the bitterest pain.'
For the old year was a good year,
And the old love was sweet;
And how could my heart hold any cheer
When both lay dead at my feet.

Life may smile and the skies may brighten,
Winter will pass with its snows;
Grief will wane and the burden lighten--
And June will come with the rose.
But it cannot bring the old cheer
To fill my empty breast;
For the old year was the one year,
And the old love was best.

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