Poems (Odom)/The Head that Sheltered Mine
THE HEAD THAT SHELTERED MINE.
INSCRIBED TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER, MR. AND MRS. HARPER P. HUNT, VICKSBURG, MISS.
"Your hair is still as dark, dear wife.
As when we both were young,
And scarcely one gray thread I find
Amid your tresses strung;
Your clear brown eyes look into mine
With all their early light;
I gaze into their depths and feel
I am not old to-night.
As when we both were young,
And scarcely one gray thread I find
Amid your tresses strung;
Your clear brown eyes look into mine
With all their early light;
I gaze into their depths and feel
I am not old to-night.
"Yet thirty years have laid their leaves
In blossom on your brow,
Since my young bosom thrilled to hear
Your low-toned bridal vow.
Thrice ten sweet years for me have borne
Their fruitage in your life—
A harvest of unfailing love,
My noble, dear old wife.
In blossom on your brow,
Since my young bosom thrilled to hear
Your low-toned bridal vow.
Thrice ten sweet years for me have borne
Their fruitage in your life—
A harvest of unfailing love,
My noble, dear old wife.
"And here we sit alone to-night,
The wind wails through the trees,
No little ones are clinging now
Nor toddling round our knees.
The brown-eyed boy who lies asleep
Upon the old hill's brow,
Of all our little nurslings, is
Our only baby now.
The wind wails through the trees,
No little ones are clinging now
Nor toddling round our knees.
The brown-eyed boy who lies asleep
Upon the old hill's brow,
Of all our little nurslings, is
Our only baby now.
"The others we have lost as well,
God knows—perhaps 't is best—
They fill their places in the world,
We hold the empty nest.
I sometimes think, dear wife, that I
Would like to turn the tide,
And fling it backward till I stood
A bridegroom at your side.
God knows—perhaps 't is best—
They fill their places in the world,
We hold the empty nest.
I sometimes think, dear wife, that I
Would like to turn the tide,
And fling it backward till I stood
A bridegroom at your side.
"Would tread the early years again
On upward day by day,
With children's laughter ringing out
Once more in joyous play.
We were so very happy then,
Our little ones were ours:
But time has swept them from our arms
As fruit must follow flowers.
On upward day by day,
With children's laughter ringing out
Once more in joyous play.
We were so very happy then,
Our little ones were ours:
But time has swept them from our arms
As fruit must follow flowers.
"Now you and I together stand
Beneath life's falling snow,
To meet the winter as we met
The spring of long ago.
My hair is almost white, but yours
Is dark and rippling yet,
As in the sweet dawn of the year,
Sweet wife, when first we met."
Beneath life's falling snow,
To meet the winter as we met
The spring of long ago.
My hair is almost white, but yours
Is dark and rippling yet,
As in the sweet dawn of the year,
Sweet wife, when first we met."
The soft brown eyes look up to his,
A trembling hand is laid
Upon the snowy locks that time
And care have caused to fade.
A tender smile of perfect love
Breaks like a sudden dawn
Upon her face, then tear-drops come
Before the smile is gone.
A trembling hand is laid
Upon the snowy locks that time
And care have caused to fade.
A tender smile of perfect love
Breaks like a sudden dawn
Upon her face, then tear-drops come
Before the smile is gone.
"Ah! love, the storms of life have beat
On your uncovered brow
As fiercely as the wind that sweeps
About the old house now;
But from the tempest and the snow,
With love almost divine,
This dear old head has always bent
And ever sheltered mine."
On your uncovered brow
As fiercely as the wind that sweeps
About the old house now;
But from the tempest and the snow,
With love almost divine,
This dear old head has always bent
And ever sheltered mine."