Classic Poem

The buzzer is sounding again;
And the lads, trooping by through the rain:
Yet I only snuggle the closer
Under the patched counterpane.

I made it, myself, for the bed,
Every stitch of it, when we were wed:
— A gaudy loud quilt to lie under!
'Twould keep him awake — Robert said.

But that was his joke: he would sleep
So soundly, he often would keep
Me awake half the night with his snoring,
Till I was nigh ready to weep.

He sleeps soundly now — but it's white,
The quilt that's his covering to-night;
While I, all alone 'neath the patchwork,
Lie 'waiting the blink of daylight.

And now the pit's working again:
And some other lad troops through the rain
To take Robert's shift, while I snuggle
Under the patched counterpane.