"Lady, see your infant smiling,
With its flaxen curling hair--
I remember when your mother
Was a baby just as fair.

"I was watching then, and hoping:
Years have brought great change to all;
To my neighbours in their cottage,
To you nobles at the hall.

"Not to me--for I am waiting,
And the years have fled so fast,
I must look at you to tell me
That a weary time has past!

"When I hear a footstep coming
On the shingle--years have fled--
Yet amid a thousand others,
I shall know his quick, light tread.

"When I hear (to-night it may be)
Some one pausing at my door,
I shall know the gay soft accents,
Heard and welcomed oft before!

"So each day I am more hopeful,
He may come before the night:
Every sunset I feel surer
He must come ere morning light.