WRITTEN ON THE FIRST LEAF OF THE ALBUM OF THE SAME.
What first should consecrate as thine,
The volume, destined to be fraught
With many a sweet and playful line,
With many a pure and pious thought?
It should be, what a loftier strain
Perchance less meetly would impart;
What never yet was pour’d in vain,—
The blessing of a grateful heart—
For kindness, which hath soothed the hour