[THE BOOTS OF A HOUSEHOLD.]
[After Mrs. Hemans.]
They came in beauty, side by side,
They filled one house with noise;
And now they're trotting far and wide,
On feet of girls and boys.
The self-same shoemaker did bend
O'er every heel and toe;
Shaped all their upper leathers fair,—
Where are those leathers now?
One pair is kicking 'gainst the bench,
The patient bench, at school;
And two are wading through the mud,
And splashing in the pool.
"The sea, the blue, lone sea," hath one.
He left it on the beach;
A merry wave came dancing up,
And bore it out of reach.
One sleeps where depths of slimy bog
Are glossed with grasses o'er;
One hasty plunge—it loosed its hold,
And sank to rise no more.
One pair—aha! I see them now,
And know them past all doubt;
For through each leather, gaping wide,
A rosy toe peeps out.
And parted thus, old, dusty, torn,
They travel far and wide,
Who in the shop, in shining rows,
Sat lately side by side.