Tag: Ninette M. Lowater

  • Work the Blessing

    From the Newark Evening Star, January 16, 1915. By Ninette M. Lowater.

    Once I thanked God for many a glittering thing
        Which now I know was worthless and which passed
        With things forgotten and behind me cast,
    As I moved onward, borne by time’s swift wing,
    But never thought I then that work could be
        God’s gift, but rather, punishment it seemed;
        And often in my lonely hours I dreamed
    Of days when from its bond I should be free.

    But now I know that work is man’s best friend,
        Heaven’s highest blessing to a world like this;
        And now I ask no longer ease and bliss,
    But only this: “Give me until the end
    Strength for the needed toil as each day passes by.
    When I can work no longer let me die.

  • The Summer Rain

    From the Grand Forks Daily Herald, June 27, 1914. By Ninette M. Lowater.

    I hear her dancing on the roof, the fairy footed rain!
    I hear her dancing in the eaves and tapping at the pane;
    I hear her calling to the flowers and to the creeping grass,
    And they come laughing up to greet her footsteps as they pass.

    She brings the promise of the year of food for hungry herds,
    Shelter and good for wildwood things, and for the singing birds;
    And food for man, the dainty fruits, the yellow wheat and corn,
    And all the largesse of the earth are of her bounty born.

    Sing high and sweet, O summer rain; with verdure crown the hills;
    Fill to the brim our wells and springs, fill all the little rills;
    Earth laughs with joy to see you spread your banners in the sky,
    For in the bounteous gifts you bring our wealth and welfare lie.

  • The Summer Rain

    From The Sun, May 3, 1914. By Ninette M. Lowater.

    I hear the dancing on the roof, the fairy footed rain!
    I hear her singing in the eaves, and tapping at the pane;
    I hear her calling to the flowers and to the creeping grass,
    And they come laughing up to greet her footsteps as they pass.

    She brings the promise of the year, of food for hungry herds,
    Shelter and food for wildwood things, and for the singing birds;
    And food for man, the dainty fruits, the yellow wheat and corn,
    And all the largesse of the earth are of her bounty born.

    Sing high and sweet, O summer rain, with verdure crown the hills,
    Fill to the brim our wells and springs, fill all the little rills;
    Earth laughs with joy to see you spread your banners in the sky,
    For in the bounteous gifts you bring our wealth and welfare lie.

  • The Mother of Bearded Men

    From The Sun, February 1, 1914. By Ninette M. Lowater.

    I am the mother of bearded men, and the names that I called them by
    When I watched their sleep in their cradles, and hushed each tear and sigh,
    Are known and spoken where men meet men, and life moves swift along,
    For they do their share of the world’s work, and they are sure and strong.

    Clear are their eyes and their glances kind, as when their years were few;
    Deep voices call me mother, and the tones are gentle and true;
    They give me love and honor, though they are wiser now than I,
    But I think of the little children who slept in my arms and I sigh.

    Oh, I could not hold them dearer, and I would not turn them back
    To wander again through life’s thorny maze, and again to climb its track.
    But when the lonely evening comes, and no one has need of me,
    It’s Oh, for the little children who once leaned upon my knee!