Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/268

My brother, my dear brother! little then
I thought that I should see his face no more,—
I stood with him beside the garden gate
(The gate where I had so oft talked with William),
One starlight night, for I had set him home
To see the last of him—oh! how I grieved
To think that I, who used to set his things
In order for him when he went away
Like any Mother, dared not now be seen
Within the house! and after we had parted,
I heard him calling after me so kindly
(The last, last words I ever heard him speak),
"Keep a good heart up till we meet again,
All will come right, dear sister, in the end."
 Trav. And did your brother's parting words come true?
 Mary. Yes, after many days—but first I suffered
Much, and in many ways, but most in mind.
Things did not thrive with us; I used to grieve
About my father, thinking I had lost
Perhaps for ever for myself and William
The promised blessing; feeling oft as if
My Heavenly Parent's love had gone with his;
I lost a little girl, the only one
I ever had; I surely was not worthy,
That had myself so sorely failed in duty,
To know the comfort of a daughter's love;
Then William's kind, good mother too was taken;
In those few first years of my married life,
Our lot was crossed by poverty and sickness;