A Song of Twilight 297 And six or seven shells, A bottle with bluebells, And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art," To comfort his sad heart. So when that night I prayed To God, I wept, and said: Ah, when at last we lie with tranced breath, Not vexing Thee in death, And Thou rememberest of what toys We made our joys, How weakly understood Thy great commanded good, Then, fatherly not less Than I whom Thou hast moulded from the clay, Thou'lt leave Thy wrath, and say, "I will be sorry for their childishness." Coventry Patmore [1823-1896] A SONG OF TWILIGHT Он, to come home once more, when the dusk is falling, Oh, to come home once more, and see the smiling faces, Men and women now they are, standing straight and steady, Shoulder set to shoulder, how should they be but ready! The future shines before them with the light of their own eyes. Still each answers to my call; no good has been denied me, My burdens have been fitted to the little strength that's mine, Beauty, pride and peace have walked by day beside me, But oh, to see once more, when the early dusk is falling, The nursery windows glowing and the children's table spread; "Mother, mother, mother!" the high child-voices calling, "He couldn't stay awake for you, he had to go to bed!" Unknown LITTLE BOY BLUE THE little toy dog is covered with dust, And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue "Now, don't you go till I come," he said, Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand, Each in the same old place, Awaiting the touch of a little hand, The smile of a little face; And they wonder, as waiting the long years through In the dust of that little chair, What has become of our Little Boy Blue, Since he kissed them and put them there. Eugene Field [1850-1895] THE DISCOVERER I HAVE a little kinsman Whose earthly summers are but three, And yet a voyager is he The Discoverer Than all their peers together! Of them who seek the frozen Pole, A winged pilot steered his bark Suddenly, in his fair young hour, "Henceforth thou art a rover! Since that time no word From the absent has been heard. Who can tell How he fares, or answer well What the little one has found From the pricking of his chart How the skyey roadways part. Hush! does not the baby this way bring, To lay beside this severed curl, Some starry offering Of chrysolite or pearl? Ah, no! not so! We may follow on his track, But he comes not back. 299 And yet I dare aver He is a brave discoverer Of climes his elders do not know. He has more learning than appears On the scroll of twice three thousand years, Or from furthest Indies brought; He knows, perchance, how spirits fare,- What is their guise and speech In those lands beyond our reach,— And his eyes behold Things that shall never, never be to mortal hearers told. Edmund Clarence Stedman [1833-1908] A CHRYSALIS My little Mädchen found one day A curious something in her play, That was not fruit, nor flower, nor seed; Or crept, or climbed, or swam, or flew; She brought in her tiny hand Some day within the chrysalis; Mater Dolorosa "And will it, truly?" questioned she- To-day the butterfly has flown,- And Death that robbed me of delight> -301 Mary Emily Bradley [1835-1898] MATER DOLOROSA I'D a dream to-night As I fell asleep, O! the touching sight. Makes me still to weep: Of my little lad, Gone to leave me sad, Ay, the child I had, But was not to keep., As in heaven high, I my child did seek, Each in lily white, With a lamp alight; Each was clear to sight, But they did not speak. |