Classic Poem

Only a cottage border,
And a scent of mignonette,
And beans and peas in order,
And a row of beehives set.
A pipkin and a platter
Laid out for an evening meal;
A cage, and a magpie's chatter,
And the whirr of a spinning wheel.
Only a woman hearkening
For a step along the lane—
A shadow the doorway darkening—
A kiss and a kiss again.

Only a church bell tolling,
And a funeral winding slow,
And a sound of earth-sods rolling
On a coffin-lid below.
Only the grass grown wavy
On a grave, where the swallows flit—
And a cradle, and a baby,
And no mother rocking it.