AFTER ALL.
By WILLIAM WINTER
At the cottage door the grandsire Sits pale in his easy-chair, While the gentle wind of twilight Plays with his silver hair.
A woman is kneeling beside him; A fair young head is pressed, In the first wild passion of sorrow, Against his agéd breast.
And far from over the distance The faltering echoes come Of the flying blast of trumpet And the rattling roll of the drum.
And the grandsire speaks in a whisper: “The end, no man can see; But we gave him to his country, And we give our prayers to thee.”
The violets star the meadows, The rosebuds fringe the door, And over the grassy orchard The pink-white blossoms pour.
But the grandsire’s chair is empty, The cottage is dark and still; There’s a nameless grave in the battle-field, And a new one under the hill.
And a pallid, tearless woman By the cold hearth sits alone, And the old clock in the corner Ticks on with a steady drone.
