AS the little white hearse went glimmering by -- The man on the coal-cart jerked his lines, And smutted the lid of either eye, And turned and stared at the business signs; And the street-car driver stopped and beat His hands on his shoulders, and gazed up-street Till his eye on the long track reached the sky -- As the little white hearse went glimmering by. As the little white hearse went glimmering by -- A stranger petted a ragged child In the crowded walks, and she knew not why, But he gave her a coin for the way she smiled; And a boot-black thrilled with a pleasure strange As a customer put back his change With a kindly hand and a grateful sigh, As the little white hearse went glimmering by. As the little white hearse went glimmering by -- A man looked out of a window dim, And his cheeks were wet and his heart was dry, For a dead child even was dear to him! And he thought of his empty life, and said: -- "Loveless alive, and loveless dead -- Nor wife nor child in earth or sky!" As the little white hearse went glimmering by. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CA' THE YOWES TO THE KNOWES by ROBERT BURNS VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1884 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE WOODSPURGE by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI BOUTS RIMES IN PRAISE OF OLD MAIDS by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE MOTHER'S LAMENT by BERNARD BARTON |