THE UNREMEMBERED MOTHER.
Unknown, beloved, thou whose shadow lies
Across the sunny threshold of my years;
Whom memory with never-resting eyes
Seeks thro’ the past, but cannot find for tears;
How bitter is the thought that I, thy child,
Remember not the touch, the look, the tone,
Which made my young life thrill—that I alone
Forget the face that o’er my cradle smil’d!
And yet I know that if a sudden light
Reveal’d thy living likeness, I should find
That my poor heart hath pictur’d thee aright.
So I will wait, nor think the lot unkind
That hides thee from me, till I know by sight
The perfect face thro’ love on earth divin’d.