"So in the church-yard she was laid; "And when the ground was white with snow, And I could run and slide, My brother John was forced to go, And he lies by her side." "How many are you, then," said I, "But they are dead; those two are dead! Their spirits are in heaven!" 'Twas throwing words away; for still The little Maid would have her will, And said, "Nay, we are seven!" William Wordsworth [1770-1850] MY CHILD I CANNOT make him dead! Is ever bounding round my study chair; With tears, I turn to him, The vision vanishes, he is not there! I walk my parlor floor, To give my boy a call; And then bethink me that he is not there! I thread the crowded street; A satchelled lad I meet, My Child With the same beaming eyes and colored hair; And, as he's running by, Follow him with my eye, I know his face is hid Under the coffin-lid; Closed are his eyes; cold is his forehead fair; O'er it in prayer I knelt; Yet my heart whispers that--he is not there! I cannot make him dead! So long watched over with parental care, My spirit and my eye, Seek him inquiringly, Before the thought comes that he is not there! When, at the cool gray break Of day, from sleep I wake, With my first breathing of the morning air My soul goes up, with joy, To Him who gave my boy; Then comes the sad thought that he is not there! When at the day's calm close, Before we seek repose, I'm with his mother, offering up our prayer; I am, in spirit, praying For our boy's spirit, though he is not there! Not there!-Where, then, is he? The form I used to see Was but the raiment that he used to wear. Upon that cast-off dress, Is but his wardrobe locked; he is not there! 305 He lives! In all the past He lives; nor, to the last, Of seeing him again will I despair; And on his angel brow, I see it written, "Thou shalt see me there!" Yes, we all live to God! Father, thy chastening rod So help us, thine afflicted ones, to bear, That, in the spirit-land, Meeting at thy right hand, "Twill be our heaven to find that he is there! John Pierpont [1785-1866] THE CHILD'S WISH GRANTED Do you remember, my sweet, absent son, How in the soft June days forever done You loved the heavens so warm and clear and high; And when I lifted you, soft came your cry,— "Put me 'way up-'way, 'way up in blue sky"? I laughed and said I could not;-set you down, CHALLENGE THIS little child, so white, so calm, Decked for her grave, Encountered death without a qualm. Are you as brave? So small, and armed with naught beside Her mother's kiss, Alone she stepped, unterrified, Into the abyss. Tired Mothers "Ah," you explain, "she did not know This babe of four Just what it signifies to go." Do you know more? Kenton Foster Murray [18 TIRED MOTHERS A LITTLE elbow leans upon your knee, But it is blessedness! A year ago I did not see it as I do to-day,- The little child that brought me only good. And if some night when you sit down to rest, I wonder so that mothers ever fret At little children clinging to their gown; 307 If I could find a little muddy boot, Or cap, or jacket, on my chamber-floor,— If I could kiss a rosy, restless foot, And hear its patter in my house once more,— If I could mend a broken cart to-day, To-morrow make a kite to reach the sky, There is no woman in God's world could say She was more blissfully content than I. But ah! the dainty pillow next my own Is never rumpled by a shining head; My singing birdling from its nest has flown, May Riley Smith [1842– MY DAUGHTER LOUISE IN the light of the moon, by the side of the water, My seat on the sand and her seat on my knees, We watch the bright billows, do I and my daughter, My sweet little daughter Louise. We wonder what city the pathway of glory, That broadens away to the limitless west, Leads up to she minds her of some pretty story And says: "To the city that mortals love best." Then I say: "It must lead to the far away city, The beautiful City of Rest." In the light of the moon, by the side of the water, She steps to the boat with a touch of his fingers, It waits, but I know that its coming will prove That it went to the walls of the wonderful city, The magical City of Love. |