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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO A LITTLE GIRL OF FIVE by THOMAS AUGUSTINE DALY

First Line: I WISH YOUR EYES MIGHT ALWAYS LOOK
Last Line: FOREVER FIVE!
Subject(s): GIRLS; LOVE;

I WISH your eyes might always look
As big with love as now they seem.
It cannot be! Your picture-book,
Whose leaves we turned together, took
Away my dream.

It was the old man on that page
Who bore the hour-glass and scythe.
That rude reminder of old age!
With what a rush of inward rage
He made me writhe!

He stirred you, too, to frown and say:
"The ugly thing! And who is he?"
"That man, my dear," I said, "some day
Is going to come and steal away
Your heart from me."

"Oh, no!" you said. But it is true;
Unless in some way we contrive
To fill that old man's path with glue
And keep me forty-eight, and you
Forever five!



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