Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/204

 198 TELL ME, MOTHER.

An amulet by a fairy blest,

A drifted plume from an angel s wing.

��TELL ME, MOTHER.

&quot; &quot;PELL me over, mother dear,

1 How Benny looked when he was here ; 1 might not know, and pass him by, Looking along the purple sky.

1 Among the harps with golden strings, Behind the angels great white wings, Beside the Lamb or by the gate, Think you that little Ben will wait ?

&quot;I never saw him, don t you know? He lived and died so long ago, Before I came. How old was he ? And is he waiting there for me?&quot;

&quot;Tell, you, my darling? If I may For tears that, choking, fight their way Tears for the angel safe at rest, Tears for the angel on my breast.

&quot;Fragile and white, with mournful eyes, A tender mouth and brow too wise ; Soft rippling wealth of cloudy gold, In curl and wavelet, softly rolled

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