Would I too have grown crosser with the years
And scolding called you from a happy game?
I do not think one cross word would have ‘scaped
My lips, though years had flown just the same.
I loved you too much to have chided if
Your little feet made muddy footprints here.
See! Even on that ledge, your grubby hands
Are outlined on the window’s white so clear.
I do not know-, I never will know-,
The years have come, and gone, and taken you;
But still I think I would have hugged my child
Whose hands were smudgy, dress perhaps dirty too.
I would have kissed your soft pink baby feet,
And held you, little one, close unto me.
I think I know, the years would not have made
An old and scolding mother out of me.
I would have laughed and played each day with you,
Have grown younger with you, little one.
But still, I can but say, I think I would-,
I cannot say I’m sure I would have done.
– Circa 1952