Did I not wash the clothes for you, O my mother?

Why did you curse me in this way?

The Mother

Nay, child, I cursed thee not. But on a day—and only once—I said: “I hope she may never marry!”

The Daughter

And was not that wish ill enough—that I should never be married? You could not have wished me worse just then.

For—when I was young—I knew not what it meant—the marrying of your daughter.

BURIAL OF THE SOLDIER

Near the pebbly shores grows a green elm-tree.

Under the tree a soldier is dying.