Publication information

Source:
Rainy Day Poems from the Farm
Source type: book
Document type: poem
Document title: “Lead Her but Kindly”
Author(s): Widdows, J. Morris
Publisher: Times-News Co.
Place of publication: Connersville, Indiana
Year of publication: 1902
Pagination: 45

 
Citation
Widdows, J. Morris. “Lead Her but Kindly.” Rainy Day Poems from the Farm. Connersville: Times-News, 1902: p. 45.
 
Transcription
full text
 
Keywords
Ida McKinley (grieving: poetry).
 
Named persons
Ida McKinley.
 
Notes
On the book’s cover the title is given simply as Rainy Day Poems.

From title page: Miscellaneous.
 
Document


Lead Her but Kindly

 

[To our beloved and grief-stricken Mrs. McKinley].

Lead her but kindly, she needs thy hand;
Though others weep around his bier and softly tread,
What’s all this world to her?—her hero’s dead.
               Lead her but kindly.

Lead her but kindly, her eyes are dim;
That cruel monster, “Death,” a gloom hath spread;
With soul oppressed, she’s longing for her dead.
               Lead her but kindly.

Lead her but kindly, with unfaltering trust,
Through days of sorrow that may come and go,
And e’en with other blessings thou mayest bestow.
               Lead her but kindly.

Lead her but kindly, the way is dark.
The pent up fountains of a broken heart
Are overflowing—O, ’tis so sad to part!
               Lead her but kindly.

Lead her but kindly, by the tideless sea,
And there may they meet on that golden shore,
And the greeting will be—“We’ll part no more.”
               Lead her but kindly.