Once the house was lovely, but it's lonely here to-day, <br />For time has come an' stained its walls an' called the young away; <br />An' all that's left for mother an' for me till life is through <br />Is to sit an' tell each other what the children used to do. <br />We couldn't keep 'em always an' we knew it from the start; <br />We knew when they were babies that some day we'd have to part. <br />But the years go by so swiftly, an' the littlest one has flown, <br />An' there's only me an' mother now left here to live alone. <br />Oh, there's just one consolation, as we're sittin' here at night, <br />They've grown to men an' women, an' we brought 'em up all right; <br />We've watched 'em as we've loved 'em an' they're splendid, every one, <br />An' we feel the Lord won't blame us for the way our work was done. <br />They're clean, an' kind an' honest, an' the world respects 'em, too; <br />That's the dream of parents always, an' our dreams have all come true. <br />So although the house is lonely an' sometimes our eyes grow wet, <br />We are proud of them an' happy an' we've nothing to regret.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-the-young-are-grown/
