I HEARD her crying in the night, -- So long, so long I lay awake, Watching the moonlight ebb and break Against the sill like waves of light. I tried to close my eyes nor heed And lie quite still -- but oh, again The little voice of fright and pain Sobbed in the darkness of her need. Strange shadows led me down the stair; Creaked as I went the hollow floor; I drew the bolts and flung the door Wide, wide and softly called her there. @3Ah me, as happy mothers call Through tender twilights to the gay, Glad truant making holiday Too long beyond the evenfall.@1 The garden odors drifted through, The scent of earth and box and rose, And then, as silently as those, A little wistful child I knew. So small, so frightened and so cold, Ah, close, so close I gathered her Within my arms, she might not stir, And crooned and kissed her in their hold. @3As might a happy mother, when, Aghast for some quaint, trifling thing, One runs to her for comforting, And smiles within her arms again.@1 All night upon my heart she lay, All night I held her warm and close, Until the morning wind arose And called across the world for day. The garden odors drifted through The open door; as still as they She passed into the awful day, A little, wistful child I knew. Think you for this God's smile may dim (His are so many, many dead) Seeing that I but comforted A child -- and sent her back to Him! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHEN THE COWS COME HOME by AGNES E. MITCHELL LOVE AND AGE by THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK THE MENU by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH MAN WAS MADE TO MOURN by ROBERT BURNS WRITTEN IN HEALTH by CAROLINE CLIVE DEATH-BED REFLECTIONS OF MICHAEL-ANGELO by DAVID HARTLEY COLERIDGE |