DEAREST MOTHER

(From Twilight Clear)

Is it Mother's Day, dear? . . I know someone's near,
In these years with my locks grey with time,
As I stalk mid this press of a sacred success,
And sing in its flame and its rhyme.

Is it you whom I lost on the Highway of Cost
As my man-trysts with Kismet I fight?
You are here in eve's glow, my footsteps to know,
To welcome me home for the night!

How long were the years when my fate shaped your fears,
And brought your warm lamp to the door,
To give me your best without thought to your rest,
And even the odds of bleak score.

Did you put in mad life such a balm for its knife,
Then fade with Eternity's dead?
I doubt it somehow, you would wait even now,
To tuck me up warm in my bed!

Yes, I'll keep Mother's Day, it's the least I can pay,
For the love-mark you left on my soul;
You are more than a thought, in these years sorrow-bought,
As I scale, ever nearer, Hope's goal.

So a fond yearn a year, and a kiss and a tear,
For the one who unlocked with the light!
You still wait, I know, as in times Long Ago,
To see that I’m in for the Night!