The Workbox

"See, here's the workbox, little wife,         That I made of polished oak."     He was a joiner, of village life;         She came of borough folk.     He holds the present up to her     As with a smile she nears     And answers to the profferer,     "'Twill last all my sewing years!"     "I warrant it will. And longer too.     'Tis a scantling that I got     Off poor John Wayward's coffin, who     Died of they knew not what.     "The shingled pattern that seems to cease     Against your box's rim     Continues right on in the piece     That's underground with him.     "And while I worked it made me think     Of timber's varied doom;     One inch where people eat and drink,     The next inch in a tomb.     "But why do you look so white, my dear,     And turn aside your face?     You knew not that good lad, I fear,     Though he came from your native place?"     "How could I know that good young man,     Though he came from my native town,     When he must have left there earlier than     I was a woman grown?"     "Ah no. I should have understood!     It shocked you that I gave     To you one end of a piece of wood     Whose other is in a grave?"     "Don't, dear, despise my intellect,     Mere accidental things     Of that sort never have effect     On my imaginings."     Yet still her lips were limp and wan,     Her face still held aside,     As if she had known not only John,     But known of what he died.