 | Household Verses |  |
154
TO------.
ON HER GRANDSON'S COMING OF AGE.
I must not, lady, frame a lay
To gratify the gay and young;
My locks, alas! are thin and grey,
My lyre to joyous notes unstrung.
To gratify the gay and young;
My locks, alas! are thin and grey,
My lyre to joyous notes unstrung.
My heart has throbs—not all
of joy;
My mind to sober thought is prone;
The birth-day of thy darling boy!
Is it not, too, mine own?
My mind to sober thought is prone;
The birth-day of thy darling boy!
Is it not, too, mine own?
And, past threescore, there needs must be,
On Nature's most indulgent plan,
Enough, methinks, to render me
“A sadder and a wiser man!”
On Nature's most indulgent plan,
Enough, methinks, to render me
“A sadder and a wiser man!”
155
Yet of this happy day, and hour,
And all it brings to thee, and him,
I can partake the spell—whose power
No selfish thought should cloud, or dim.
And all it brings to thee, and him,
I can partake the spell—whose power
No selfish thought should cloud, or dim.
For him—what can I wish of good,
But what his sire and grand-sire knew?
That HE may stand where they have stood,
To every virtuous impulse true!
But what his sire and grand-sire knew?
That HE may stand where they have stood,
To every virtuous impulse true!
That he, like them, content may live
His old ancestral groves among;
And unto those beneath him give
Shelter from woe, and want, and wrong.
His old ancestral groves among;
And unto those beneath him give
Shelter from woe, and want, and wrong.
That he may wisely choose his friends;
And prove a richer meed than fame
Is his—who seeks no selfish ends,
But spotless keeps an honoured name!
And prove a richer meed than fame
Is his—who seeks no selfish ends,
But spotless keeps an honoured name!
For thee, my friend, what wish could hope
Indulge—of richer, purer bliss,
E'en giving wildest fancy scope,
More sweet, more rich, more pure than this?
Indulge—of richer, purer bliss,
E'en giving wildest fancy scope,
More sweet, more rich, more pure than this?
156
That every fond and faithful prayer
Of thine—with this glad day entwined,
Thy nightly thought, thy daily care,
May now their blest fulfilment find.
Of thine—with this glad day entwined,
Thy nightly thought, thy daily care,
May now their blest fulfilment find.
My parting numbers, for you both
A prayer and blessing ought to blend;
And, truth to say, I am not loth
That thus my votive verse should end.
A prayer and blessing ought to blend;
And, truth to say, I am not loth
That thus my votive verse should end.
Nor could I, lady, close my lay
In words more tender, or more true,
Than when, with heart and soul, I say,
God bless thee—and thy grandson too!
In words more tender, or more true,
Than when, with heart and soul, I say,
God bless thee—and thy grandson too!
| Household Verses | |