University of Virginia Library

And now arose in the courteous stare,
A dear old lady, as sweet and fair
As damask roses; her four-score years
Had not been burdens of smileless tears,
Or tearless smiles: she had used as aids
The joys and griefs of her four decades.
Each birthday chime to her form and face
Had brought some newly unconscious grace;
Life's luxuries all had striven in vain
To harden her heart or clog her brain;
Prosperity decked her life with blooms,
Gems could new lustre from her receive;
Her gowns were woven in costliest looms,
Her laces such as the fairies weave;
Rich diamonds centuries old, astir
With new magnificence, greeted her;
The rich sea-oyster had covered oft
The mote that vexed it, with velvets soft,
So it might harden and beam—a pearl—
To smile with this never-ageing girl.
How thus did this woman garner youth?—
She studied and travelled the roads of truth;
She scanned the body and mind each day,
That both be given the right of way;
She opened the sky-lights of her soul,
And asked for the Great Real World's control;
And having plotted the best one could,
As God and Nature had meant she should,
Then waited and prayed, with modest zest,
For God and Nature to do the rest.
But not in idleness waited she:
Her deeds of mercy full oft unknown
In records such as the mortals see,
Were sculptured on the eternal throne.
The pleasure of others she could employ,
To breed for herself the purest joy.