Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/Questions of the Hour
QUESTIONS OF THE HOUR.[MARIAN, SIX YEARS OLD.]
"Do angels wear white dresses, say? Always, or only in the summer "DoTheir birthdays have to come like mine, in May? Do they have scarlet sashes then, or blue?
"When little Jessie died last night, How could she walk to Heaven—it is so far?How did she find the way without a light? There wasn't even any moon or star.
"Will she have red or golden wings? Then will she have to be a bird, and fly?Do they take men like presidents and kings In hearses with black plumes clean to the sky?
"How old is God? Has He grey hair? Can He see yet? Where did He have to stayBefore—you know—He had made—Anywhere? Whom does He pray to—when He has to pray?
"How many drops are in the sea? How many stars?———well, then, you ought to knowHow many flowers are on an apple-tree How does the wind look when it doesn't blow?
"Where does the rainbow end? And why Did—Captain Kidd—bury the gold there? WhenWill this world burn? And will the firemen try To put the fire out with the engines then?
"If you should ever die, may we Have pumpkins growing in the garden, soMy fairy godmother can come for me, When there's a prince's ball, and let me go?
"Read Cinderella just once more——— What makes—men's other wives—so mean?" I knowThat I was tired, it may be cross, before I shut the painted book for her to go.
Hours later, from a child's white bed "I heard the timid, last queer question start:"Mamma, are you—my stepmother?" it said. The innocent reproof crept to my heart.