VAINLY, vainly, memory seeks Round our father's knee, Laughing eyes and rosy cheeks, Where they used to be: Of the circle once so wide, Three are wanderers, three have died Golden-hair'd and dewy-eyed, Prattling all the day, Was the baby, first that died; O, 'twas hard to lay Dimpled hand and cheek of snow, In the grave so dark and low! Smiling back on all who smiled, Ne'er by sorrow thrall'd, Half a woman, half a child, Was the next God call'd; Then a grave more deep and wide Made they by the baby's side. When or where the other died Only heaven can tell; Treading manhood's path of pride, Was he when he fell; Haply thistles, blue and red, Bloom about his lonesome bed. I am for the living three Only left to pray; Two are on the stormy sea -- Farther still than they, Wanders one his young heart dim, Oftenest -- most -- I pray for him. Whatsoe'er they do or dare, Wheresoe'er they roam, Have them, Father, in thy care, Guide them safely home; Home, O Father, in the sky, Where none wander and none die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BETTER ANSWER (TO CHLOE JEALOUS) by MATTHEW PRIOR ODE TO THE CONNECTICUT RIVER by JOSIAS LYNDON ARNOLD ON FILE by JOHN KENDRICK BANGS LORD KITCHENER by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES KING VICTOR EMANUEL ENTERS FLORENCE, APRIL, 1860 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE LORD HAYES: SONG IN FORM OF A DIALOGUE by THOMAS CAMPION THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: TO SIR THOMAS MOUNSON, KNIGHT AND BARONET by THOMAS CAMPION |