Page:Patriotic pieces from the Great War, Jones, 1918.djvu/16

12 IT IS WELL WITH THE CHILD

By permission of the author and the publishers, the Atlantic Monthly Company, Boston

The word has come—On the field of battle, dead.

Sorrow is mine but there is no more dread.

I am his mother. See, I do not say,

'I was;' he is, not was, my son. Today

He rests, is safe, is well; he is at ease

From pain, cold, thirst, and fever of disease,

And horror of red tasks undone or done.

Now he has dropped the load he bore, my son,

And now my heart is lightened of all fears,

Sorrow is mine and streams of lonely tears,

But not too heavy for the carrying is

The burden that is only mine, not his.

At eventide I may lay down my head,

Not wondering upon what dreadful bed

Perchance—nay, all but certainly—he lies;

And with the morn I may in turn arise,

Glad of the light, of sleep, of food, now he

Is where sweet waters and green meadows be

And golden apples. How it was he died

I know not, but my heart is satisfied:

Never again of all my days shall one

Bring anguish for the anguish of my son.