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<h2>The Legend of Love</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> THERE’S a cup on the very topmost shelf Of the cupboard built in the wall, On one side a vine is traced on the delf With forget-me-nots blue and small; On the other the words stand boldly up That were once a pride and a joy, For a legend it bears, this old-fashioned cup, Which runs, “For a good little boy!”{129} </div> <div class="stanza"> ’Twas bought by a mother with eyes as blue As forget-me-nots pretty and shy, When youth was her portion, and love was true, And the days went merrily by. </div> <div class="stanza"> On the cottage floor where the sunbeams crept, Played her own sturdy lad of three, And but yesterday he smiled and he slept Such a pretty babe on her knee. </div> <div class="stanza"> He followed her down to the garden gate On her way to the little town, “Now hurry right back, and don’t you be late,” He said with a pout and a frown. </div> <div class="stanza"> He must have some toys for the Christmas-tide, So she bought him a tiny sled, And a nice little box of sweets beside To go into his mouth so red. </div> <div class="stanza"> “Was there anything else!” she asked herself, “She could buy for the laddie small?” It was then that she saw the cup of delf Which stands on the shelf in the wall. </div> <div class="stanza"> “For a good little boy,” ah, that meant him, With a face as sweet as a rose, “He is good,” she said, and her eyes grew dim, “From his curly head to his toes.”{130} </div> <div class="stanza"> And she carried her treasures one by one To the cottage down in the lane, Where the winter sunbeams brightly shone On his face at the window pane. </div> <div class="stanza"> He was proud of the sleigh with its jingling bells And the box was a thing of joy, “But the cup is best,” he said, “for it tells That I’m such a good little boy.” </div> <div class="stanza"> O poor little mother, your eyes so blue, Faded out with the wash of tears! O poor little mother, your heart so true, It broke with the weight of years! </div> <div class="stanza"> And there, on the very topmost shelf, The old-fashioned cup it has stood, Since a day long ago when she owned to herself That her boy was no longer good. </div> <div class="stanza"> There is dust on it now, but believe me, dear, It was once a pride and a joy, With its legend of love, so bright and so clear, Which runs, “For a good little Boy.” </div> </div></div> <ANTIMG src="images/deco.png" width-obs="25" alt="[Decorative image unavailable.]" /> {131} <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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