SMALL is my secret—let it pass— Small in your life the share I had, Who sat beside you in the class, Awed by the bright superior lad: Whom yet with hot and eager face I prompted when he missed his place. For you the call came swift and soon:— But sometimes in your holidays You met me trudging home at noon To dinner through the dusty ways, And recognized, and with a nod Passed on, but never guessed—thank God! Truly our ways were separate. I bent myself to hoe and drill, Yea, with an honest man to mate, Fulfilling God Almighty's will; And bore him children. But my prayers Were yours—and, only after, theirs. While you—still loftier, more remote, You sprang from stair to stair of fame, And you've a riband on your coat, And you've a title to your name. But have you yet a star to shine Above your bed, as I o'er mine? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES TO MAKE A PRAIRIE by EMILY DICKINSON LINES TO A MOVEMENT IN MOZART'S E-FLAT SYMPHONY by THOMAS HARDY THE LITANY [TO THE HOLY SPIRIT] by ROBERT HERRICK THE KEARSARGE (1894) by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE THE HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE |