THE LONG HILL/SHADOWS
Words by Sara Teasdale, music by James E. Nelson

THE LONG HILL:  

I must have passed the crest a while ago
And now I am going down.
Strange to have crossed the crest and not to know.
But the brambles were always catching the hem of my gown.

All the morning I thought how proud I should be
To stand there straight as a queen.
Wrapped in the wind and the sun with the world under me--
But the air was dull, there was little I could have seen.

It was nearly level along the beaten track.
And the brambles caught in my gown--
But it's no use now to think of turning back.
The rest of the way will be only going down. 

SHADOWS: 

We saw our shadows walking before us
Etched on the hard sand, flat and grey.
The last thin edge of the waves crept near us,
The autumn sunshine tried to be gay.

Chained to the shadows our bodies made there
Slowly we walked in the dwindling light.
Our shadows faded, like wraiths we wandered
With the dark sea booming into the night.