With all a mother's pride,
And my heart was in my eyes.

There's a little room close by,
Where I often used to creep
In the hush of the summer night
To watch my boy asleep.
But he who used to rest
Beneath the spread so white
Is far away from me now,--
Oh, where is my boy to-night?

Perchance in the gathering night,
With slow and weary feet,
By the light of Southern stars,
He paces his lonely beat.
Does he think of the mother's heart
That will never cease to yearn,
As only a mother's can,
For her absent boy's return?

Oh, where is my boy to-night?
I cannot answer where,
But I know, wherever he is,
He is under our Father's care.
May He guard, and guide, and bless
My boy, wherever he be,
And bring him back at length
To bless and to comfort me.