All day long we roam, we roam,
My shadow fleet and I;
One searches all the land and sea,
And one the trackless sky;
But when the taint of death ascends
My airy flight to greet,
As friends around the festal board,
We meet! we meet! we meet!
Ah! none can read the signs we read,
No eye can fathom the gales,
No tongue can whisper our secret deed,
For dead men tell no tales.
The spot on the plains is miles away;
But our wings are broad and fleet, —
The wave-tossed speck in the eye of the day
Is far — but we meet! we meet!
The voice of the battle is haste, oh, haste!
And down the wind we speed;
The voice of the wreck moans up from the deep,
And we search the rank seaweed.
The maiden listens the livelong day
For the fall of her lover's feet;
She wonders to see us speeding by, —
She would die if she saw us meet!
L'ENVOI.
Sweeping in circles, my shadow and I,
I Leaving no mark on the land or sky,
When the double circles are all complete,
At the bedside of death we meet! we meet!