That she intends to have some friends to tea;
She says she can't invite them all,
Because our house is much too small,
But she selected just a few,
The ones she thinks are dearest most to you.
She intends to celebrate, for mother dear,
The birthday of her eightieth year,
And she requests that I shall write to thee,
What she is pleased to call some poetry,
And that because I can't be there