The Return

    HE went, and he was gay to go;
    And I smiled on him as he went.
    My son, 'twas well he couldn't know
    My darkest dread, nor what it meant--

    Just what it meant to smile and smile
    And let my son go cheerily--
    My son . . . and wondering all the while
    What stranger would come back to me.

        Wilfred Gibson