THE MOTHER.
She kept her tender watch beside
The cradle where her baby lay, And smiled to see, with tender pride The wayward little curls astray In sweet and wilful disarray. "How fair, and soft, and fine !" she said, And bent and kissed the little head. What sudden memory makes her start ? From cheek and lip the colour flies ; Her hand goes wandering to her heart, Above whose quickened beaming lies A locket, closed to curious eyes, But guarding, safe and secret there, Another ring of silky hair. And later, when the firelight smiled A welcome to the one who came And kissed his wife and kissed his child, Who woke and clamoured for a game. And laughed, and lisped his father's name, She turned away, no word she said, But foilh. into the night she fied. And down the churchyard path she went. Where branches beud and grasses wave, And weary bodies lie content, And neither tears nor pity crave. She knelt beside a little "grave, Where in a dreamless slumber deep Her other baby lay asleep. She felt afresh the parting pain. She heard anew the bell that tolled j She longed to warm to life again The baby that had gio\vn so uolcl ; She pressed her face against the mould. ''The other takes his place," she said, ''And I am jealous for my dead."' fc— Ruth BcDroac—
THE MOTHER.
Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 67
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Witness. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in