Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON RECEIVING A SOUVENIR POSTCARD, by EFFIE WALLER SMITH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON RECEIVING A SOUVENIR POSTCARD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On the little desk before me
Last Line: And we're chums and lovers still.
Subject(s): Postal Service; Youth; Postmen; Post Office; Mail; Mailmen


On the little desk before me
A pictured post-card lies,
Fondly I'm looking at it
With saddened tear-dimmed eyes.

The postman came this morning
And brought this card to me,
It was sent from Kentucky, where
My childhood's home used to be.

The rustic scene in black and white,
Imperfect tho' and small,
Engraved upon this post-card,
Might not interest you at all.

You may not care to look at it,
What matter if you don't;
Your not having any interest, for
This pictured post-card won't.

Make less for me the memories
And thoughts of "ye olden tyme,"
Freighted with love and tenderness
And which to-day entwine.

Fondly around my yearning heart
As with tear-dimmed eyes I gaze
At this bit of scenery and think
Over my childhood days.

I think of one in particular
Who has figured so much in my life,
One to whom I was playmate in childhood
Afterward sweetheart and wife.

There's the winding Sandy river
And the "Big Rocks" by its side,
Where together we've sat fishing,
Or looking across the tide.

Have wondered at the steamboats
Painted in colors gay
On the other side of the river
Smoking and puffing away.

Or at the town in the distant
Sometimes we'd sit and gaze
And dream bright dreams of the future --
Air castles of childhood days.

And if our thoughts and opinions
On matters would differ then,
We'd fall out and quarrel, but always
Would forgive and make up again.

There's the "forks" in the old country road
Shaded with sycamores cool,
Where each afternoon we parted
On our way home from school.

And he, always courteous and gallant
With manly pride and grace,
Would carry my books and lunch pail
To this our parting place.

Those days are gone, forever gone,
Those care-free days of childhood,
Yet, I would not call them back to live
Over again if I could.

For he, my childhood's playmate,
My girlhood's lover and chum,
Still walks life's pathway with me
And for many years we've come

Sometimes through darkened valleys,
Sometimes on the mountain's height,
Sometimes 'neath cloud-hung heavens,
Sometimes in the sunshine bright.

We are closely united now,
For we're married and we feel
Each other's interests more keenly
And we're chums and lovers still.





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