Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/303

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GRANDMOTHER S LOVE-LETTER.

So, when we grow aweary Of pain, and loss and guile,

He whispers very softly, "Tis such a little while !

��GRANDMOTHER S LOVE-LETTER.

UP, up in the sunshiny garret, Where grandma s old treasures abide, I can fancy her presence is near me And creep, as of yore, to her side ; So, shutting my eyes, I recall her

The kindly old face in the cap, The arm gently creeping about me As I hid childish woe in her lap.

The herbs that she long ago gathered,

The fire-dogs ashine in the sun, The spinning-wheel idle for ever,

The blankets whose threads she had spun, Seem speaking, .though silent around me

These links of a life that I miss, And the casket bequeathed with a blessing

I touch with a reverent kiss.

As I open the time-yellowed packet, Writ "George to Amelia" without,

With a ribbon (that s made restitution Of sky-stolen blue) tied about,

�� �