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DA LEETLA BOY

DA spreeng ees com'; but oh, da joy
Eet ees too late!

He was so cold, my leetla boy,
He no could wait.

I no can count how manny week,
How manny day, dat he ees seeck;
How manny night I seet an' hold
Da leetla hand dat was so cold.
He was so patience, oh, so sweet!
Eet hurts my throat for theenk of eet;
An' all he evra ask ees w'en
Ees gona com' da spreeng agen.
Wan day, wan brighta sunny day,
He see, across da alleyway,
Da leetla girl dat's livin' dere
Ees raise her window for da air,
An' put outside a leetla pot
Of-w'at-you-call?-forgat-me-not.

So smalla flower, so leetla theeng!
But steell eet mak' hees hearta seeng:
"Oh, now, at las', ees com' da spreeng!
Da leetla plant ees glad for know
Da sun ees com' for mak' eet grow.
So, too, I am grow warm and strong."
So lika dat he seeng hees song.

But, ah! da night com' down an' den
Da weenter ees sneak back agen,

An' een da alley all da night
Ees fall da snow, so cold, so white,
An' cover up da leetla pot
Of-w'at-you-call?-forgat-me-not.

All night da leetla hand I hold

Ees grow so cold, so cold, so cold!

Da spreeng ees com'; but, oh, da joy

Eet ees too late!

He was so cold, my leetla boy,

He no could wait.

Thomas Augustin Daly [1871

Epitaph of Dionysia

ON THE MOOR

I

I MET a child upon the moor
A-wading down the heather;
She put her hand into my own,
We crossed the fields together.

I led her to her father's door-
A cottage midst the clover.

I left her and the world grew poor
To me, a childless rover.

II

I met a maid upon the moor,
The morrow was her wedding.
Love lit her eyes with lovelier hues
Than the eve-star was shedding.

She looked a sweet good-bye to me,
And o'er the stile went singing.
Down all the lonely night I heard
But bridal bells a-ringing.

III

I met a mother on the moor,
By a new grave a-praying.
The happy swallows in the blue
Upon the winds were playing.

"Would I were in his grave," I said,
"And he beside her standing!"

There was no heart to break if death
For me had made demanding.
Cale Young Rice [1872-

EPITAPH OF DIONYSIA

HERE doth Dionysia lie:

She whose little wanton foot,

Tripping (ah, too carelessly!)

Touched this tomb, and fell into 't.

293

Trip no more shall she, nor fall.
And her trippings were so few!
Summers only eight in all

Had the sweet child wandered through.

But, already, life's few suns

Love's strong seeds had ripened warm.

All her ways were winning ones;
All her cunning was to charm.

And the fancy, in the flower,
While the flesh was in the bud,
Childhood's dawning sex did dower
With warm gusts of womanhood.

Oh what joys by hope begun,
Oh what kisses kissed by thought,
What love-deeds by fancy done,
Death to endless dust hath wrought!

Had the fates been kind as thou,
Who, till now, was never cold,
Once Love's aptest scholar, now
Thou hadst been his teacher bold;

But, if buried seeds upthrow

Fruits and flowers; if flower and fruit

By their nature fitly show

What the seeds are, whence they shoot,

Dionysia, o'er this tomb,

Where thy buried beauties be,

From their dust shall spring and bloom

Loves and graces like to thee.

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FOR CHARLIE'S SAKE

THE night is late, the house is still;
The angels of the hour fulfil

Their tender ministries, and move

From couch to couch in cares of love.

For Charlie's Sake

They drop into thy dreams, sweet wife,
The happiest smile of Charlie's life,
And lay on baby's lips a kiss,
Fresh from his angel-brother's bliss;
And, as they pass, they seem to make
A strange, dim hymn, "For Charlie's sake."

My listening heart takes up the strain,
And gives it to the night again,
Fitted with words of lowly praise,

And patience learned of mournful days,
And memories of the dead child's ways.
His will be done, His will be done!
Who gave and took away my son,
In "the far land" to shine and sing
Before the Beautiful, the King,
Who every day doth Christmas make,
All starred and belled for Charlie's sake.

For Charlie's sake I will arise;

I will anoint me where he lies,

And change my raiment, and go in
To the Lord's house, and leave my sin
Without, and seat me at his board,
Eat, and be glad, and praise the Lord.
For wherefore should I fast and weep,
And sullen moods of mourning keep?
I cannot bring him back, nor he,
For any calling, come to me.
The bond the angel Death did sign,

God sealed-for Charlie's sake, and mine.

I'm very poor-this slender stone

Marks all the narrow field I own;

Yet, patient husbandman, I till

With faith and prayers, that precious hill,

Sow it with penitential pains,

And, hopeful, wait the latter rains;

Content if, after all, the spot
Yield barely one forget-me-not-
Whether or figs or thistles make
My crop, content for Charlie's sake.

295

I have no houses, builded well-
Only that little lonesome cell,

Where never romping playmates come,
Nor bashful sweethearts, cunning-dumb-
An April burst of girls and boys,

Their rainbowed cloud of glooms and joys
Born with their songs, gone with their toys;
Nor ever is its stillness stirred

By purr of cat, or chirp of bird,
Or mother's twilight legend, told
Of Horner's pie, or Tiddler's gold,
Or fairy hobbling to the door,

Red-cloaked and weird, banned and poor,
To bless the good child's gracious eyes,
The good child's wistful charities,
And crippled changeling's hunch to make
Dance on his crutch, for good child's sake.

How is it with the child? 'Tis well;
Nor would I any miracle

Might stir my sleeper's tranquil trance,

Or plague his painless countenance:
I would not any seer might place

His staff on my immortal's face,
Or lip to lip, and eye to eye,
Charm back his pale mortality.

No, Shunamite! I would not break
God's stillness. Let them weep who wake.

For Charlie's sake my lot is blest:
No comfort like his mother's breast,
No praise like hers; no charm expressed
In fairest forms hath half her zest.
For Charlie's sake this bird's caressed

That death left lonely in the nest;
For Charlie's sake my heart is dressed,
As for its birthday, in its best;
For Charlie's sake we leave the rest
To Him who gave, and who did take,
And saved us twice, for Charlie's sake.

John Williamson Palmer [1825-1906]

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