The Return Home, 43

In vision saw I my loved one
A worn, sad woman one day;
Her once so-blooming figure
Had wither’d and fallen away.

A child in her arms she carried,
By the hand another she led,
And grief and poverty plainly
In her walk, looks, and garments I read.

Across the market she totter’d,
And then did I meet her eye;
She looked upon me, and gently
I spake to her thus, with a sigh:

“Come with me to my dwelling,
“For thou art pale and ill,
“And food and drink I’ll earn thee
“By industry and skill.

“I’ll also nourish and cherish
“The children that with thee I see;
“But, my child so poor and unhappy,
“I’ll care the most for thee.

“I never will remind thee
“That I loved thee so dearly of yore,
“And when at length thou diest,
“I’ll weep at thy grave full sore.”