The Mother's Recompense

And, oh, how blessed is it thus to meet! 
To feel that vanished years have not estranged us, 
distance has not diminished love,
 that we are to each other even as we parted; 
to feel again the fond kiss, 
to hear once more the accents of a voice which to us has been for years so still,
--a voice that brings with it the gush of memory! 
Past days flit before us; 
feelings, thoughts, hopes, 
we deemed were dead, 
all rise again, 
summoned by that secret witchery, 
the well-remembered though long silent voice. 
 Let years, long, lingering, saddening years drag on their chain,
 let youth have given place to manhood,
 manhood to age, 
still will it be the same--the voice we once have loved, 
and deemed to us for ever still--oh, time, and grief, and blighted hope will be forgotten,
 and youth, in its undimmed and joyous beauty, 
its glow of generous feelings, i
ts bright anticipations, 
all, all again be ours.
-Grace Aguilar, The Mother's Recompense, Volume II, 1859