Death In Leamington

She died in the upstairs

By the light of the ev'ning

That shone through the plate glass

From over Leamington

Beside her the lonely

Lay patiently and unstirred,

But the fingers that would have work'd

Were dead as the spoken word.

And Nurse came in with the

Breast high 'mid the stands and chairs-But Nurse was alone with her own little soul,

And the things were alone with theirs.

She bolted the big round window,

She let the blinds unroll,

She set a match to the mantle,

She covered the fire with coal.

And "Tea!" she said in a tiny voice"Wake up!

It's nearly five"Oh!

Chintzy, chintzy cheeriness,

Half dead and half alive.

Do you know that the stucco is peeling?

Do you know that the heart will stop?

From those yellow Italianate

Do you hear the plaster drop?

Nurse looked at the silent bedstead,

At the gray, decaying face,

As the calm of a Leamington

Drifted into the place.

She moved the table of

Away from the bed to the wall;

And tiptoeing gently over the

Turned down the gas in the hall.