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SONNET.
[O! not in youthful love-notes light and vain]
TO F. H.
For February 14th, 1868.
O! not in youthful love-notes light and vain,
Nor ditty of fantastical desire—
(Weak, worthless spells a greybeard's heart to fire,
And thaw to foolish thought his frozen brain):
O! not in such but more befitting strain
Today, dear maiden, doth my song aspire
From thee, whom many love and all admire,
A moment's patient audience to obtain.
In me the lover's and the husband's heart
Are dead and buried: yet past words of thine
(Filial tho' few) parental joy impart
To this poor widow'd, wither'd age of mine,
To which for all that thou hast been and art,
Bless thee!—God bless thee!—gentle Valentine.
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