Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/205

 THE LESSON OF A SHADOW. 199

&quot;Over the patient bended back, Twisted by pain that shamed the rack : This was our Benny. He was seven When Jesus took him home to heaven.&quot;

&quot;But, mother, will God keep him so? If not, how ever will I know His angel there? Oh, hold me tight; I m going, mother, home to-night.

&quot;I ll find dear Benny somewhere there; I ll know the shining of his hair; And shall I give him your dear love, To keep till you shall come above ?

&quot;I hear sweet music. Mother, see ! A childish presence beckons me ; And oh, where once was twist, and mar, The shining wings of angels are.&quot;

��THE LESSON OF A SHADOW.

OLD Uncle Ralph by the cottage sat, Wearing well-brushed coat, and his Sunday hat, On the little porch where the shadow sweet Of the maple boughs, fell across the street.

Lakes of the sunshine, shores of shade, Islands, and capes, by the light winds made,

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