Water Lilies, and Other Poems (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ...a scene so bright We fancy the angels smile above it; Our fair young friend has a step so light That even the children well might covet. 116 A BIRTHDAY. We remember her as a little child, --A winsome, helpful, restless mortal, In speech and gesture so quaint and wild, --And now she has reached fair freedom's portal. We wish her a hundred returns of the day, Were the all-wise Father pleased to give them, With choicest blessings to brighten the way, And His grace and strength to rightly live them. With the fairest pictures in memory's hall The scenes of the day will long be glowing. Ah well how quickly the twilight falls It is time that you and I were going. A REVELATION. I had gathered from fresh little grasses The dew still alight on each leaf; Their pendulous blossoms just bursting In beauty, so perfect, so brief And when 'neath the glass I had placed them, And viewed them, thus magnified, o'er, I summoned the shy little maiden, Who sat, with her dolls, on the floor. Quick she came, with a light, breezy motion, And carelessly leaned on my chair; And when she had looked at the wonder I asked if she knew what was there. 118 A REVELATION. No answer; but eyes growing wider, Lips quivering apart, red and sweet, The quick, nervous clasping of fingers, The silence that shadowed her feet. "What is it, my darling? Pray tell me." She lifted her wonder-wide eyes, --I fancied her words would be wanting, So sudden and strange the surprise. But the answer came, slowly and sweetly, With a reverence pleasing to see: "It looks like--'the power--and the gloryFor ever and ever'--to me." THE WORLD'S STORY. "In the beginning"--when was that? Ah minds of finite measure, Stopped short before the Infinite, And forced to wait His pleasure, Our world is small, ...