" WHEN have I known a boy
Kinder than this my daughter, or his kiss
More filial, or the clasping of his joy
Closer than this?"

Thus did a mother think;
And yet her daughter had been long away,
Estranged, on other business; but the link
Was fast to-day.

This mother, who was she?
I know she was the earth, she was the land.
Her daughter, a gay girl, toiled happily,
Sheaves in her hand.