Requiescat

This poem from Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) shares a title with a completely different work that I discussed in an earlier blog post.  This particular poem was not published in CAS' lifetime, nor is it available on The Eldritch Dark, so here's the complete text:

Whither, on soft and soundless feet,
With careful pace and air discreet,
O grey companion, art thou gone,

Quietly, like a shade withdrawn?

Too strange, in each beloved spot

To peer once more, and meet thee not;

To pass, amid the desolate rooms,

Among the garden's lonely blooms.

Still shall we seek and never find,

Save in the chambers of the mind,

And in the deepening heart's demesne,

Thy furry presence, bland, serene.

O wise and tender! calm and sweet!

Slumber, in peace for aye replete;

Gently as thou upon its breast,

Let the kind earth above thee rest.

This is certainly a minor poem from CAS, perfectly competent but lacking any particular spark of craft or imagination to make it notable.