And turn your bright colors all sombre and gray.
But I’ll gather you up; and with berries and mosses,
My fingers shall twine you in garlands and crosses,
Your beauty shall be, through the dark wintry days,
Like an anthem of joy or a tribute of praise.
BIRTHDAY LINES.
Forty-one years with its hopes and fears,
Forty-one years of smiles and tears,
Have passed—since on my infant brow
A mother’s first kiss was placed; and now,