Sitting here in the twilight gray,

On this my anniversary day,

Let me review the past;—and see

What these years have done for me.

Forty-one years! why it seems but a day

Since I knelt at my mother’s knee, to pray;

While her voice was ascending in accents mild,

Invoking heaven’s blessings upon her child.

That mother was early called away;

Yet I feel she is near me day by day;