Poems of home and country Also, Sacred and Miscellaneous Verse |
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TO MY WIFE ON HER SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY.
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 | Poems of home and country |  |
TO MY WIFE ON HER SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY.
RETROSPECTIVE PICTURES.
A fairy girl, with wavy curls;
Her trade in books and pen,
Like one who scatters lovely pearls;
Her sunny years,—just ten.
Her trade in books and pen,
Like one who scatters lovely pearls;
Her sunny years,—just ten.
Another figure, stately grown,—
What changes time has wrought!
How swift the sobering years have flown,
With noblest purpose fraught!
What changes time has wrought!
How swift the sobering years have flown,
With noblest purpose fraught!
Twice ten,—the scene is changed; I hear
His, “Wilt thou?” her “I will;”
She pledged her faith without a fear,
Risking, or good,—or ill.
His, “Wilt thou?” her “I will;”
She pledged her faith without a fear,
Risking, or good,—or ill.
Again, thrice ten,—and clinging buds
In sweet affection twine,
Successive, with their tendrils fair
Around the clustering vine.
In sweet affection twine,
Successive, with their tendrils fair
Around the clustering vine.
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Four tens,—the happy summit reached,
Life's harder conflicts done,
Her sunny curls with silver streaked,
Life's golden prizes won.
Life's harder conflicts done,
Her sunny curls with silver streaked,
Life's golden prizes won.
Revered and loved, with honor crowned,
Now with her five times ten,
In peace and hope she walks and lives,
Lives, in her babes, again.
Now with her five times ten,
In peace and hope she walks and lives,
Lives, in her babes, again.
Sweet eminence, too fair to leave,
And so she lingers still;
Her cup of good, at six times ten,
What constant blessings fill!
And so she lingers still;
Her cup of good, at six times ten,
What constant blessings fill!
The world is wide; like Israel's hosts,
Sheltered and led of God,
At seven times ten her favored steps
Remotest empires trod.
Sheltered and led of God,
At seven times ten her favored steps
Remotest empires trod.
Five more are added,—years of joy;
Walk on, with trusting feet,
Till years full twenty-five shall make
Thy century complete.
Walk on, with trusting feet,
Till years full twenty-five shall make
Thy century complete.
February 8, 1888.
| Poems of home and country | |