Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AT THE OLD FARM, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT THE OLD FARM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Yes, 't is true. The blinds are closed, and the front
Last Line: "that, before he went, he spoke to the ""dear wife"" tenderly."
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


YES, 't is true. The blinds are closed, and the front door streams with crape.
Surely through the house last eve stole a vague and awful shape,
Dimly seen by only one—viewless, soundless, to the rest:
Only one descried the arrow ere its death-pang pierced his breast.

Why, they say he kissed his wife! She was sitting by the door,
With her patient, work-worn hands folded, for the day was o'er;
And the twilight wind stirred softly, tapped the lilacs on the pane,
While belated bees swung slowly homeward through the scented lane.

"Ruth," he said, and touched her brow, gently as a lover might,—
Stooped and kissed her, sitting there. She was struck with sudden fright.
"Ah! what is it, John?" she cried; "do you think I'm going to die?"
"No!" he answered, "no, dear wife. If 't is any one, 't is I."

Full ten years or more had passed since he'd given her a word
Thoughtful, feeling-like, caressing. She could scarce believe she heard
Rightly now. Their talk, you see, was, most part, about the farm—
Butter, eggs, the new Alderney, making hay; they meant no harm.

Kindly, honest, Christian folk, both the deacon and his wife;
Only somehow they had lost all the romance out of life.
And the love which they began with, like a flower o'ergrown with weeds,
Struggled on, half-choked, half-buried, in the strife for worldly needs.

Well, the night came on apace. All the usual chores were done,
And they went to bed as usual; rising always with the sun,
'T was not worth while burning candles; and at midnight, lo! a call
Woke the sleepers. One was taken, one was left—and that was all.

Lucy told me of the kiss. On her way to meet the choir
She had stopped to see Aunt Ruth,—she and Neighbor Brown's Desire.
They were not surprised, this morning, when they heard that he was dead;
That he must have had a warning was what our Lucy said.

But I think the real love, the true love,—that never dies,
Once two loyal hearts have known it,—wakened 'neath those evening skies;
And 't will be a comfort sweet, in her lonely time to be,
That, before he went, he spoke to the "dear wife" tenderly.





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