Poems (Bell)/The Mother's Thoughts
THE MOTHER'S THOUGHTS.In the Gloaming.
When the day is slowly fading And the sun is sinking low.Rose-tints o'er the hills a-shading. 'Tis then I love to goAnd sit in the open doorway, Where, gazing down the street.I can see the people come and go And hear their hurrying feet.In my mind I see a maiden. Lovely as the dawn of day,Brow so fair, eyes like blue pansies, Merry, charming, winsome, Ray!Since she left us, nineteen summers Have we spent in the old home."Dead?" you ask: "No, only married.. And to a distant country gone."There comes before me now the dear face Of a boy, a lissom youth;Faults he had some—good qualities, many, And he always spoke the truth.Alas! the tempter came and won him To his side—my bonny boy—And he fell his truth condemned him, But in Heaven for him there's joy.I see a form beside me. I hear a voice so lowI scarce can hear it, my little Blind girl is with me now.Strange, that of all the gay throng She was the chosen one—My little Ruth—to bear the burden So heavily laid upon!In the quiet summer gloaming The thought comes of the oneWho always "did the chores" for me When his daily work was done; He recked not of the sneerings Thrown at him by his mates,My noble boy, he standeth now By "Heaven's pearly gates!"Yes, two have gone to Heaven, My boys so tall and strong,My delicate girls are left here To battle with earth's wrong.Strange course of eventful nature, That takes the strong and leaves the weakTo close my slumbering eyelids And smooth my withered cheek.Night after night I listen For the step I know so well,Hoping as the moments go No harm has the one befellWho for so many long years Has jogged along with me.Over life's road so rugged, But by him made smooth to be.The twilight is swiftly fading And the stars begin to peep.But still I linger in the doorway And my lonely vigil keep.My child (the one that is left me Of all the others here at home),Now tells me the dew is falling And father home has come."So I leave my place in the doorway And quickly go withinTo receive the kiss that awaits me, What matter my cheek is thin?Although my sight is fainter And my hair is most all gray.That love is still as fresh to us As on my bridal day!