By Louisa May Alcott
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Four little chests all in a row
Dim with dust,and worn by time
All fashioned and filled,long ago
By children now in their prime
Four little keys hung side by side
With faded ribbons,brave and gay
When fastened their,with childish pride
Long ago,on a rainy day
Four little names,one on each lid
Carved out by a boyish hand
And underneath there lieth hid
Histories of a happy band
Once playing here,and pausing oft
To hear the sweet refrain
That came and went on the roof aloft
In the falling summer rain
"Meg" on the first lid,smooth,and fair
I look in with loving eyes
For folded here,with well-known care
A goodly gathering lies
The record of a peaceful life
Gifts to gentle child and girl
A bridal gown,lines to a wife
A tiny shoe,a baby curl
No toys in this chest remain
For all are carried away
In their old age,to join again
In another small Meg's play
Ah,happy mother! Well I know
You hear,like a sweet refrain
Lullabies ever soft and low
In the falling summer rain
"Jo" on the next lid,scratched and worn
And within a motley store
Of headless dolls,of schoolbooks torn
Birds and beasts that speak no more
Spoils brought home from the fairy grounds
Only trod by youthful feet
Dreams of a future never found
Memories of a past still sweet
Half-writ poems,stories wild
April letters,warm and cold
Diaries of a willful child
Hints of a woman early old
A woman in a lonely home
Hearing,like a sad refrain
"Be worthy love,and love will come",
In the falling summer rain
My Beth! The dust is always swept,
From the lid that bears your name
As if by loving eyes that wept
By careful hands that often came
Death canonized for us one saint
Ever less human than devine
And still we lay,with tender plaint
Relics in this household shrine
The silver bell,so seldom rung
The little cap which last she wore
The fair,dead Cathrine that hung,
By angel borne above her door
The songs she sang,without lament
In her prison house of pain
Forever are they sweetly blent
With the falling summer rain
Upon the last lid's polished field
Legend now both fair and true
A gallant knight bears on his shield,
"Amy" in letters gold and blue
Within lie snoods that bound her hair
Slippers that have danced their last
Faded flowers laid by with care
Fans whos airy toils are past
Gay valentines,all ardent flames
Trifles that have borne their part
In girlish hopes,fears,and shames
The record of a maiden heart
Now learnind fairer,truer spells
Hearing,like a blithe refrain
The silver sound of bridal bells
In the falling summer rain
Four little chests all in a row
Dim with dust,and worn by time
Four little women, taught by weal and woe
To love and labor in their prime
None lost,one only gone before
Made by loves immortal power
Nearest and dearest evermore
Oh,when these hidden stores of ours
Lie open to the Father's sight
May they be rich in golden hours
Deeds that show fairer for the light
Lives whose brave music long shall ring
Like a spirit stirring strain
Souls that shall gladly soar and sing
In the long sunshine after rain