Analysis of Asking in Vain

Still his little grave she seeketh
   In her mother-sorrow wild,
Hush! While in her heart she speaketh
   To the spirit of her child:
“Were we not to one another
   Once the sum of all sweet gain?
Say then—say unto thy mother,
   Shall we ever meet again?
   Darling, shall we meet again,
Knowing, loving one another?
“Ah! What weary, weary sorrows
   Have I known through loss of thee,
And what comfortless to-morrows
   Wait me in this misery!
Were we not to one another
   Once the sum of all sweet gain?
Say then—say unto thy mother,
   Shall we ever meet again?
   Darling, shall we meet again,
Knowing, loving one another?”

But the wind alone is heard
   Sighing in reply,
Where the long grave-grass is stirred
   As it floweth by.