Her face had the glory of heaven,
The look of an angel her eye,
I said: “And to her it is given
To know, for her soul is one
With the soul of this page of John,
And the wisdom that comes from on high.”
THE BIRTHDAY CAKE
Five little candles on her birthday cake,
Five little candles brightly burning,
We gaze on them, while memories awake
Of happy moments, nevermore returning.
Five little years of childhood happiness,
Five little years, when oft we played together,
How often did her love and joy us bless,
When days seemed dark, and stormy was the
weather.
The tiny lights are dying one by one,
As one by one the years their flight have taken,
I shed a tear for that which thus is gone,
And kiss the child for whom the cake was baken.
MY GOLDFISH
Five little goldfish in a vase
My simple study-room do grace,
And oft when tired of reading books,
I turn to them my weary looks,
And pleasure find in their quaint ways,
Reminding me of ancient lays.
Amid the deep, on sparkling sands,
A tow’ring Gothic castle stands,
Its gates and windows open wide,
Through which the lustrous carplings glide,
Like sea-nymphs in the days of old,
Like mermaids in an age of gold.
They hide beneath the dark green weed,
And fondly on its frondlets feed,
It seems an island near the shore,
Where Lorelei did sing of yore,
And gold and green most softly blend,
As then—ere romance had an end.
O, days of legendary lore,
Of fairy-folk and nymphs galore!
When tired of this prosaic age,
And weary of the modern page,
I find my golden fish suggest
The dreams with which your life was blest.