Meeting "Daddy"

Sturdy and plump and clean and fair,

With big blue eyes and a tangle of hair,

There's a little lassie who runs to meet

Her father's step that rings on the street,

As, day after day, at the set of sun,

Father comes home when his work is done.

Making money for wife and weans,

Few are the sheaves the good man gleans;

All day long he is busy down-town,

Snowflakes sift where his hair was brown;

But he starts for home at an eager pace,

And love lights up the care-worn face.

For there at the window watching out

Is the little maid whose merry shout

Of "Daddy is here!" in his ear shall be,

Swift as he turns his own latch-key.

And glad is the heart at the set of sun

When father goes home with his day's work done.

                                -Anonymous