THE POET’S CORNER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9067, 6 February 1908, Page 6

THE POET’S CORNER.

OLD MOTHERS. 1 love old mothers —mothers with white hair, And kindly eyes, and lips grown softly sweet With murmured blessings over sleeping babes. There is a something in their quiet grace That speaks the calm of Sabbath afternoons; A knowledge in their deep, unfaltering eyes That far outreaches all philosophy. Time, with caressing touch, about them weaves The silver-threaded fairy-shawl of age, While all the echoes of forgotten songs Seem joined to lend a sweetness to their speech, Old mothers!—as they pass with slow-timed step. Their trembling hands cling gently to youth’s strength ; Sweet mothers! —as they pass, one sees agaiii Old garden-walks, old roses, and old loves. CHARLES ROSS. In the Century Magazine.