Classic Poem

I.

Young Hans and his Gretchen dance with a will,
And bubble with laughter and talk,
But Peter is standing, dumb and still!
With a face as white as chalk!

For Hans and Grete are bride and groom,
In gay wedding garments beaming;
But poor Peter wears his work-day costume,
Biting his nails and dreaming.

Poor Peter mutters under his breath,
As he mournfully eyes the pair,
" I should go and drown myself, I know,
If I weren't too wise to care! "

II.

Deep in my heart there sits a woe
That strains my heart to breaking;
And where I stand, and where I go,
I cannot rest for aching.

It drives me to my love, as though
Grete would cure my sorrow;
But when I see her eye I know
I must away the morrow.

And then I climb the mountain's brow,
And there, my vigil keeping
Where lonely tears at will may flow,
Alone I linger weeping.

III.

The hapless Peter totters by
With laggard steps, death-pale and shy,
And all whom he perchance may meet
Pause when they see him in the street.

Among themselves the girls speak low:
" He's risen from the grave, I know. "
Not so — into the grave, alas!
Dear children, he's about to pass.

His true love he has lost, and so
The grave is best for such a woe;
There he his weary head may lay,
And slumber till the Judgment Day.