Page:More songs by the fighting men, soldier poets, second series, 1917.djvu/117

 RUDOLPHE LOUIS NÈGROZ

Con Amore

F but my love were as my love should be,

And pen a fitting scribe unto my heart,

Even then your praise I could not worthily

In ringing rime chime forth: no earthly art

Could frame the incommunicable worth

That is all yours, purchased with many tears,

And patient bravery, and happiness of earth

Renounced to buy your children's future years.

Then on the little mound your toil made good

Against a merciless tide of circumstance

I'll stand, taking the breath of gratitude

To mind and heart their power to enhance,

That I may reach the ear of future times

And hint my Mother's worth in these poor rimes.

The world must know your greatness, little Mother!

I will not have it so to be confined

That it should dwell but in the heart of my brother,

My sister's and mine own, and in our mind 113