TIRED MOTHER.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 69, 16 June 1877, Page 3

TIRED MOTHER.

A little elbow leans upon your knee — Your tired knee that has so much to bear — . A child's dear eyes are looking lovingly From underneath • a tlir.ich of tangled hair. Perhaps you do not. heed the velvet touch Of warm, moist fingers holding yours so tight, , You do not prize the blessing overmuch — - You almost are too tired to pray to-night. But it is blessedness! A year ago. I did not see it a*s I do to-day — We are all so dull and thankless, and too slow ■> To catch the sunshine till it slips away. And" now it seems surprising strange to me That, while X wore Ihe badge of molherhood I did not kiss more oft and tenderly The . little, child that brought me only good, And if, sotne^ night, when ,you Bit down to rest, You miss the elbow on your tired knee — This restless curly head from off your breast, This lisping tongue that chatters constantly J - If from your own the dimpled hands had slipped. And ne'er would' nestle in your palm 'again, If the white feet into the grave had tripped — I- could not- blame you- for your heartache then. I wonder that some'in'others over fret At their little children clinging to their • gown, - Or that the footprints, when the days are wet, Are ever black enough, to make them frown,' If I could find a littler muddy boot, Or cap, or jacket on my chamber floor — If I could kiss a.^osy, restless foot And hear it_ patter in iny house once , more ; If I could mend & broke* cart' to-day, To-morrow make a kite to reach the sky, .There is no womaTn in Gto'd's earth .would say ' She was more blissfully content than I ! But ah ! the dainty pillow next my own Is never rumpled by-a shinning head 2 My .Bmging birdling' from its nest has flown —^. ■The little boy I used to kiss is — dead. * - y. Y. Evening Post.