<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2><SPAN name="WATCHING" id="WATCHING"></SPAN>WATCHING.</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Dear father's ship is very near,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">We'll blow him kisses, baby dear,—<br/></span>
<span class="i1">He may come home to-day.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">A happy wind that journeys south<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Seems just to linger round my mouth,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Then bear a kiss away.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Come, baby, I will hold you—so,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">We'll watch the waves that outward go,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">And call, "Come back to-day!"<br/></span>
<span class="i0">For father's heart seems always near,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And who can tell but he may hear,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Or know the words we say?<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">All round and up the cottage wall<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The honeysuckle's grown so tall,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">It sees above the gate;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The flowers came hurrying up so sweet—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">We told the little seeds they'd meet<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Dear father,—and they wait.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">We first shall see a speck of white,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Far, far away, there where the light<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Has swept the morning dim;<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</SPAN></span>
<span class="i0">So silent will his coming seem,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">'Twill be like waking from a dream<br/></span>
<span class="i1">To wave our hands to him.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">And then, and then he'll hoist you high,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And swiftly pass the people by,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">Just stopping here and there<br/></span>
<span class="i0">To shake the neighbours by the hand,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And tell them of the southern land,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">And ask them how they fare.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">He is not very far away,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">For mother said he'd come to-day—<br/></span>
<span class="i1">We knew it by her face;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">She caught you up and kissed you so,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And now she's busy to and fro,<br/></span>
<span class="i1">And sings about the place.<br/></span></div>
</div>
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