 | The Comrades |  |
97
The Upward Look
I cried because I was afraid.
Strange people came about the place;
They'd laid my mother in a chest,
And spread a cloth upon her face.
And then they whispered up and down;
And all of them were dressed in black;
And women that I did not know
Kissed me and said, “Poor little Jack!”
And then the great black horses came—
Their tails trailed almost on the ground—
And there were feathers on the coach,
And all the neighbours stood around.
Strange people came about the place;
They'd laid my mother in a chest,
And spread a cloth upon her face.
And then they whispered up and down;
And all of them were dressed in black;
And women that I did not know
Kissed me and said, “Poor little Jack!”
And then the great black horses came—
Their tails trailed almost on the ground—
And there were feathers on the coach,
And all the neighbours stood around.
And when the horses went away,
The house no longer seemed the same,
And I grew frightened, and I called
For Mother; but she never came,
And so I cried! But then my Aunt
Came weeping when she heard my cries;
And I was such a little thing
I looked up to her streaming eyes.
The house no longer seemed the same,
98
For Mother; but she never came,
And so I cried! But then my Aunt
Came weeping when she heard my cries;
And I was such a little thing
I looked up to her streaming eyes.
I looked up to her streaming eyes!
And it has often seemed since then,
At times of threatening, doubt, distress,
That, full-grown to the life of men,
Just so have I looked up—just so
Some being of a higher sphere,
Aware of laws from me concealed,
Has downward looked and dropped a tear—
A tear of pity for the pain
That I must feel when I've outgrown
This larger childhood, and have learned
To know myself as I am known.
And it has often seemed since then,
At times of threatening, doubt, distress,
That, full-grown to the life of men,
Just so have I looked up—just so
Some being of a higher sphere,
Aware of laws from me concealed,
Has downward looked and dropped a tear—
A tear of pity for the pain
That I must feel when I've outgrown
This larger childhood, and have learned
To know myself as I am known.
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