Jenifer's Love

Small is my secret--let it pass-- Small in your life the share I had, Who sat beside you in the class, Awed by the bright superior lad: Whom yet with hot and eager face I prompted when he missed his place. For you the call came swift and soon: But sometimes in your holidays You meet me trudging home at noon To dinner through the dusty ways, And recognized, and with a nod Passed on, but never guessed--thank God! Truly our ways were separate. I bent myself to hoe and drill, Yea, with an honest man to mate, Fulfilling God Almighty's will; And bore him children. But my prayers Were yours--and, only after, theirs. While you--still loftier, more remote, You sprang from stair to stair of fame, And you've a riband on your coat, And you've a title to your name; But have you yet a star to shine Above your bed, as I o'er mine?