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Labor and the Angel

Chapter 19: AFTERWARDS.
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About This Book

A collection of lyrical and narrative poems that intertwine rural and natural imagery with meditations on work, love, and moral responsibility. Poems depict harvests, seasonal change, and small lives—often pairing intimate domestic scenes with broader social observation—while recurring angelic and spiritual motifs frame labor as both suffering and sacred duty. Several sequences offer seasonal songs and short dramatic narratives; others turn to elegiac or reflective moods, addressing poverty, endurance, consolation, and the consolatory powers of love and service. The tone ranges from vivid sensory description to moral and communal critique, united by plain diction and musical cadence.

AFTERWARDS.

Her life was touched with early frost,
About the April of her day,
Her hold on earth was lightly lost,
And like a leaf she went away.
Her soul was chartered for great deeds,
For gentle war unwonted here:
Her spirit sought her clearer needs,
An Empyrean atmosphere.
At hush of eve we hear her still
Say with her clear, her perfect smile,
And with her silver-throated thrill:
“A little while—a little while.”