Papa would take me to the park to see the swans   By hansom cab trotting so high   Holding his hand to see the swans   Hissing louder than rustling dresses of gracious ladies bustling by      See swan ships come sailing in   White as the clouds on a windy day      James I suppose would be in school   James I suppose would be in school      I was I was learning to spell laughing at loud smells   Avoiding the rod of the cod faced master   Was it your absence made me quiet at noon?   Playing British Bulldogs on the gravel   Was it your presence colored my dream?      I burrowed in cupboards like a mole all Saturday   Under old chairs and old ladies knees   I framed your half remembered face   With frail white embroideries      Calling for you down the mousy garden   Calling for you down the mousy garden      O did you meet him at the ball? Eighteen years on   Tall soldier now and you full grown   Belle did you meet him at the ball?   Belle did you meet him at the ball?      O do you remember me? Thin girl with cold hands   You in your scarlet and you knew my name   Step to the veranda under the wisteria in the mysterious November      Dancing as if with death or fate to the moon black ballroom   Of the silk skinned lake   Kissing me you lifted my skirt under the willow trees      Keep the home fires burning though your heart is yearning   Though the boys are far away they dream of home   There's a silver lining in the dark clouds shining   Turn that lining inside out till the boys come home      Did I see you march to the train? Did I cry was my nose red?   My two day bride can you feel me in your memory?   I will be the redness in your iron fire   How could I write? My words would seem sad or gay      We regret to inform you   We regret to inform you   We regret to inform you      Meet me by gaslight in the dark dawn   On waterloo bridge we will walk arm in arm   Hearing the leaves fall with whisper into the foggy dew   When we are dead, when we are dead      Now she sits in her brother's widow's house   Her skin like a lizard her aura like a daffodil   Sits like a sign in the children's chair   Migrant guest from relative to in-law   She stares into the embers