University of Virginia Library


149

II.

Ah me, what woes were yours, what tears you shed!
Still by sick dolls for ever would you sit;
The cat, quick-tempered Tom, would scratch and spit,
Because my sweet must take it still to bed.
Once real sorrow, may-be, when o'erhead
Voices were ever low and lights long lit:
The room where, with a coffin crowding it,
They showed the child a mother lying dead.
But you have grown and left these griefs behind
With Youth, who will not let his burdens last.
Since you will be a woman, you will find
That troubles never more will fade so fast.
O world who hath given her memories fair and kind,
Deal with her Future lightly as with her Past!