The Reward by Marie Van Vorst (1910)
The speaker, dressed in sombre clothes and marked by tears and silvered hair, hears a cricket crying in the rain while she feels unable to hear happiness. Its small, tender sound seems almost human as it calls from the grass. When she resolves to accept “Cheer” instead of “Joy,” her dear one’s footsteps sound on the garden walk. After she extinguishes her candle, the cricket’s song returns late in the rainy night.
By Marie Van Vorst · First published 1910 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Romantic Poetry · 190 words
First lines
I heard the little cricket cry / Last night in the dull rain -- as I / Put on my dark, my sombre dress. / (I had no ear for happiness! )
And as I braided up my hair / I saw the white threads, silvered there, / And on my cheeks the mark of tears, / My only kisses thro' the years.
Sudden -- that little voice I heard -- / Finer than call of cheerful bird. / A human -- tender -- crying sound / In the low grasses near the ground.
Just as I said: -- "_I will take Cheer / Instead of Joy! _" -- Your footsteps, Dear, / Fell on the garden walk. and when / I put my candle out,. Again
What this Textopian page supports
The Reward is listed on Textopian as a poem by Marie Van Vorst, dated 1910 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Marie Van Vorst
- Date: 1910 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Melancholic Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 190 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Reward by Marie Van Vorst
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Similar titles
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- Teach My Song by Marie Van Vorst
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, musical first-person poem centered on a single emotional moment, using rhythm, repetition, and concentrated imagery.
- Love Poetry — The speaker addresses a beloved whose returning footsteps transform her loneliness and emotional despair into comfort.
- Romantic Poetry — Its intimate address, idealized beloved, heightened feeling, and natural imagery place it within a romantic poetic mode.
- Melancholic Poetry — The sombre dress, tears, gray hair, rain, and initial rejection of happiness create a distinctly mournful atmosphere.
Tags
fiction · novel · romance · love · marriage · relationships · society · social drama · family · emotional conflict · personal sacrifice · moral choices