Are waiting out beyond the dark to welcome Father Pat.
I’ll not attend the obsequies: I feel I could not face
The office that I know so well, and see his vacant place:
We saw a generation pass while side by side we sat:
Another starts its march to-day—without us, Father Pat.
They’ll wonder why I am not there—I, last of all the band—
To take farewell of him that’s gone; but he will understand.
We’ll have a little requiem my own loved altar at,
And just ourselves—alive and dead—shall chant it, Father Pat.
| [7] | An over-smart would-be gentleman; a term of contempt. |