Small in your life the share I had,

Awed by the bright superior lad:

Whom yet with hot and eager face

I prompted when he missed his place.

 For you the call came swift and soon: But sometimes in your holidays You meet me trudging home at noon To dinner through the dusty ways, And recognized, and with a nod Passed on, but never guessed—thank God! 

But sometimes in your holidays

To dinner through the dusty ways,

And recognized, and with a nod

Passed on, but never guessed—thank God!

 Truly our ways were separate. I bent myself to hoe and drill, 

I bent myself to hoe and drill,

 Yea, with an honest man to mate, Fulfilling God Almighty's will; And bore him children. But my prayers Were yours—and, only after, theirs. 

Fulfilling God Almighty's will;

And bore him children. But my prayers

Were yours—and, only after, theirs.

 While you—still loftier, more remote, You sprang from stair to stair of fame, And you've a riband on your coat, And you've a title to your name; But have you yet a star to shine Above your bed, as I o'er mine?  

You sprang from stair to stair of fame,

And you've a title to your name;

But have you yet a star to shine

Above your bed, as I o'er mine?

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