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THE UNKNOWN

237

To mother them! And then it all

Is blurred by the insistent tears!


THE UNKNOWN

BY E. O. LAUGHLIN

I DO not understand...
They bring so many, many flowers to me—
Rainbows of roses, wreaths from every land;
And hosts of solemn strangers come to see
My tomb here on these quiet, wooded heights.
My tomb here seems to be
One of the sights.


The low-voiced men, who speak
Of me quite fondly, call me The Unknown:
But now and then at dusk, Madonna-meek,
Bent, mournful mothers come to me alone
And whisper down—the flowers and grasses through—
Such names as "Jim" and "John"...
I wish I knew.


And once my sweetheart came.
She did not—nay, of course she could not—know,
But thought of me, and crooned to me the name

She called me by—how many years ago?
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