I shall step in to share his sorrowing.

Beside the staircase that has known her hand

And in the hall her presence made complete,

The home her life endowed with memories sweet

Where everything has heard her sweet command

And seems to wear her beauty, I shall stand

Wondering just how to greet him when we meet.

I dread the very silence of the place,

I dread our meeting and the time to speak—

Speech seems so vain when sorrow's at the peak!

Yet though my words lack soothing power or grace,

Perhaps he'll catch their meaning in my face

And read the tears which glisten on my cheek.

[Pg 44]

[Pg 44]

THE JOYS WE MISS

There never comes a lonely day but what we miss the laughing ways

Of those who used to walk with us through all our happy yesterdays.

We seldom miss the earthly great—the famous men that life has known—

But, as the years go racing by, we miss the friends we used to own.

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