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Page:Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (Harper, 1857).djvu/13

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7

Saw you the sad, imploring eye?Its every glance was pain,As if a storm of agonyWere sweeping through the brain.
She is a mother, pale with fear,Her boy clings to her side,And in her kirtle vainly triesHis trembling form to hide.
He is not hers, although she boreFor him a mother's pains;He is not hers, although her bloodIs coursing through his veins!
He is not hers, for cruel handsMay rudely tear apartThe only wreath of household loveThat binds her breaking heart.
His love has been a joyous lightThat o'er her pathway smiled,A fountain gushing ever new,Amid life's desert wild.
His lightest word has been a toneOf music round her heart,Their lives a streamlet blent in one—Oh, Father! must they part?