AT the calm matin hour I see her bend in prayer, As bends a virgin flower Kissed by the summer air; Oh, meek her downcast eyes! But the sweet lips wear a smile; How hard our little angel tries To be serious all the while! I tell her 'tis not right To be half-grave, half-gay, Imploring in Heaven's sight A blessing on the day; She hears and looks devout -- Although it gives her pain; Still, when the ritual's almost out She's sure -- to smile again! She shocks her maiden aunt, Who thinks it a disgrace That, do her best, she can't Give her a solemn face; She'll scold and rate and fume, And lecture hour by hour, Until she makes the very room Look passionate and sour! Alack, 't is all in vain! Soon as the sermon's done My fairy blooms again, Like a rose-bud in the sun. I cannot damp her mirth! I will not check her play; Is guileless joy so rife on earth, Hers shall not have full sway? I asked her yester night, Why, when her prayer was made, Her brow of cordial light Scarce caught a serious shade. "@3Father,@1" she said, "@3you love Better to meet me glad; And so I thought the Christ above Might grieve to see me -- sad!@1" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF by KAREN SWENSON RAIN AFTER A VAUDEVILLE SHOW by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE DESERTER['S MEDITATION] by JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN THE PRAYER OF AGASSIZ by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER LOVE SONG by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS |