COME, STRANGER

Come stranger, walk this path with me tonight :
Take pleasure in the dark - come, take the air !
Put your hand in mine and hold back your fright,
Remove all doubt, release your burdened care.

Stranger! Those legs that buckle are too slow!
Your face as wan as milk within a pail!
We have a distance on this path to go,
A journey that you promised without fail!

Stranger ! To sit and weep is misery !
Yours! - not mine, for this way I know so well :
Take heart, you've been unchained, set free,
By the faint tolling of that distant bell.

Stranger ! Your dream is done, now we must leave !
Let others weep for you, let others grieve !