Only a little scrap of blue <br />Preserved with loving care, <br />But earth has not a brilliant hue <br />To me more bright and fair. <br /> <br />Strong drink, like a raging demon, <br />Laid on my heart his hand, <br />When my darling joined with others <br />The Loyal Legion band. <br /> <br />But mystic angels called away <br />My loved and precious child, <br />And o'er life's dark and stormy way <br />Swept waves of anguish wild. <br /> <br />This badge of the Loyal Legion <br />We placed upon her breast, <br />As she lay in her little coffin <br />Taking her last sweet rest. <br /> <br />To wear that badge as a token <br />She earnestly did crave, <br />So we laid it on her bosom <br />To wear it in the grave. <br /> <br />Where sorrow would never reach her <br />Nor harsh words smite her ear; <br />Nor her eyes in death dimmed slumber <br />Would ever shed a tear. <br /> <br />"What means this badge?" said her father, <br />Whom we had tried to save; <br />Who said, when we told her story, <br />"Don't put it in the grave." <br /> <br />We took the badge from her bosom <br />And laid it on a chair; <br />And men by drink deluded <br />Knelt by that badge in prayer. <br /> <br />And vowed in that hour of sorrow <br />From drink they would abstain; <br />And this little badge became the wedge <br />Which broke their galling chain. <br /> <br />And lifted the gloomy shadows <br />That overspread my life, <br />And flooding my home with gladness, <br />Made me a happy wife. <br /> <br />And this is why this scrap of blue <br />Is precious in my sight; <br />It changed my sad and gloomy home <br />From darkness into light.<br /><br />Frances Ellen Watkins Harper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-little-child-shall-lead-them/
