Is it the shrewd October wind
  Brings the tears into her eyes?
Does it blow so strong that she must fetch
  Her breath in sudden sighs?

The sound of his horse's feet grows faint,
  The Rider has passed from sight;
The day [dies]1 out of the crimson west,
  And coldly falls the night.

She presses her tremulous fingers tight
  Against her closèd eyes,
And on the lonesome threshold there,
  She cowers down and cries.

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View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Poems by W. D. Howells, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1873, page 122.

¹ Tirindelli: "glides"

Text Authorship:

• by William Dean Howells (1837 - 1920), "Gone", appears in Poems, first published 1873 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Edward Alexander MacDowell (1860 - 1908), "Folk song", op. 47 no. 3, published 1893, from Eight Love Songs, no. 3. [ sung text verified 1 time]
• by Pier Adolfo Tirindelli (1858 - 1937), "Gone", copyright © 1907 [voice and piano], John Church Company [ sung text verified 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 74