Ballads and Lyrical poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

What though you're only five years old,
A little roguish, romping fairy,
And I'm a man of care and toil—
We're comrades true, my little Mary!
We're friends and playmates, close and fond,
And heedless of the wind or weather;
Out-doors or in, 'tis all the same,
We leap, and laugh, and run together.

II

We love to sit upon the grass
In summer days, in shady valleys,
Or play at merry “hide and seek”
Behind the trees in garden alleys.
And don't we wander forth alone,
To gather crops of meadow daisies?
Or hunt the noisy grasshopper
In all his green and secret places?

III

And don't we catch the butterfly,
With mealy pinions, sailing lightly?
And don't you, when I let him free,
Gravely decide, I acted rightly?

And don't we teach the dog to beg,
And little puss to frisk and caper?
And don't I paint you birds and fish,
And cut you purses out of paper?

IV

And don't we spin our humming-top
Together on the parlour table?
And don't your father call me fool,
And smile to utter such a fable?
And don't I tell you fairy tales,
At intercession of your mother?
And don't you kiss me when I've done,
And ask me to begin another?

V

And don't you oft, with hands outstretch'd,
And eyes that shine like sun-lit fountains,
Protest you love me “big as trees,”
“Big as the world—and all its mountains?”
And don't you sometimes fall asleep,
Lock'd in my arms, quite worn and weary?
And don't I carry you to bed,
Too drowsy for your prayers, my deary?

VI

Oh, yes! we're friends and comrades true,
There's not a bit of guile about you;
You shed such light around your path,
I'd think the world was dark without you.

And if to fourscore years I live,
However Time and Fate may vary,
I'll wish no better friend than you,
My little laughing, romping Mary.