One Thing Wanting

“Your life was hard with mangling clothes,

You scrubbed our floors for years;

But now your children are so good,

That you can rest your poor old limbs,

And want for neither drink nor meat.”

“It’s true,” she said, and laughed for joy;

And still her voice, with all her years,

Could make a song-bird wonder if

A rival sweetness challenged him.

But soon her face was full of trouble:

“If I could only tear,” she said,

“My sister Alice out of her grave-

Who taunted me when I was poor-

And make her understand these words:

“See, I have everything I want,

My children, Alice, are so good’-

If I could only once do that,

There’s nothing else I want on earth.’