My Little Woman.
A
homely cottage, quaint and
old,1
Its thatch grown thick with green and
gold,2
And wind-sown grasses ;3
Unchanged it stands in sun and rain,4
And seldom through the quiet lane5
A footstep passes.6
Yet here my little woman dwelt,7
And saw the shroud of winter melt8
From meads and fallows ;9
And heard the yellow-hammer sing10
A tiny welcome to the spring11
From budding sallows.12
She saw the early morning sky13
Blush with a tender wild-rose dye14
Above the larches ;15
And watched the crimson sunset burn16
Behind the summer plumes of fern17
In woodland arches.18
My little woman, gone away19
To that far land which knows, they say,20
No more sun-setting !21
I wonder if her gentle soul,22
Securely resting at the goal,23
Has learnt forgetting ?24
A countryside scene featuring a farm house and a country road. A plough and a well
with a bucket are
beside the road on the right side. 1/3 page.
My heart wakes up, and cries in vain ;25
She gave me love, I gave her pain26
While she was living ;27
I knew not when her spirit fled,28
But those who stood beside her, said29
She died forgiving.30
My dove has found a better rest,31
And yet I love the empty nest32
She left neglected ;33
I tread the very path she trod,34
And ask,—in her new home with God35
Am I expected ?36
If it were but the Father’s will37
To let me know she loves me still,38
This aching sorrow39
Would turn to hope, and I could say,40
Perchance she whispers day by day,41
“ He comes to-morrow.”42
I linger in the silent lane,43
And high above the clover plain44
The clouds are riven ;45
Across the fields she used to know46
The light breaks, and the wind sighs low,47
“ Loved and forgiven.”48