Neglect - A poem by Ed Blair

Neglect.

The sick one lay on the cot
Where the walls were brown and bare,
And the longed for friend came not,
No flowers were carried there;
And the fever burned his brow,
And the lips could scarcely part,
But the saddest of all was how
Neglect had stung the heart.

"I have no friends," said he,
"Though once I had a score,
No one now cares for me,
For none knock at the door."
And the feverish face turned white,
And soon the lips were clay;
For who could live with the light
Of friendship shut away?

Who loved him? Were there none
Who cared for him that day,
That from the throngs not one
Should come with him to stay?
Yes^___many loved him well,
And many meant to go
With some sweet word to tell,
To ease that heart of woe.

Next day from the busy throng
A hundred came to see,
For they learned as they passed along
That his spirit now was free;
And they brought from the gardens fair
The beautiful lilies white,
And they banked them 'round him there,
As they laid him away that night.

Oh, carry the message today,
Wait not for tomorrow's sun;
It may drive despair away,
And comfort the dying one.
For better one flower today
For the one on the lonely cot,
Than tomorrow a rich boquet
When the dear one liveth not.

^__Ed Blair.

Kansas Zephyrs
Ed Blair
(Madison, Wis: The American Thresherman. 1901)
Pages 182-183