Poems (Clark)/Throwing the Shoe

by Annie Maria Lawrence Clark

THROWING THE SHOE

We stood 'mid the sunset's glories,
 And our words were brief and few,
Though ever nearer and nearer
 Drifted onward a sad adieu.
We, to be left in the quiet
 Of home to watch and pray;
He, to stand up for the starry flag,
 In the Union ranks far away.

We knew the cause was a good one,
 That the hand which led was the Lord's;
Yet the tears would come unbidden,
 And our thoughts took a depth beyond words;
With a glimpse of the dread and the waiting
 In the days that must surely come,
When fear should walk beside our hope
 Of saying a "Welcome home."

But there throbbed one heart, whose loving
 Had trust and bravery too,
And she deemed it a sin that our soldier,
 Should have only a tearful adieu;
So she said, as she glanced around her
 On faces sad and pale,
"I'll bring you good luck with an olden spell
 That never was known to fail."

We smiled, though our hearts were aching,
 And we craved, may the spell prove true,
When, the "Good-byes" all said, and he left us,
 She threw "for good luck," her shoe.
And we garnered close as a token,
 To cheer our hearts the while,
When from under the shading maples,
 Our soldier looked back with a smile.

And when with a jubilant brightness
 July was with us again,
Though we lost a tithe of her glory
 In the shadow of War's dread pain,
We found the God of the battle
 Was better to us than our fears,
As we welcomed him in gladness
 We had sent away in tears.

And we said, with thankful rejoicing,
 That the olden spell was true,
And we never would doubt the magic,
 That lay in a half-worn shoe;
And ever, as oft as he left us,
 As oft as we said "Adieu,"
Though we placed our trust in God alone,
 Still, we threw for "good luck," a shoe.