In childhood's sunny day my heart was taught to love Thy name, all other poet's names above, And when to womanhood at last I came, Behold the spark was fanned into a flame, Nor did I dare presume that I should live, And to the honored, white-haired poet give My sentiment in rude constructed rhyme; O, wondrous change wrought by the hand of time! When he who came the slaves among to dwell, From frigid Idaho (We loved him well,) Athirst for knowledge I stood at his side, With quickening thought and eyes astonished, wide. He nightly read, and held me on his knee, From Whittier's "Snowbound" filling me with glee. The seed sown by his hand in infant heart, Has lived and grown, and cannot now depart. Now to the sunset thou hast set thy face, And silvery crown thy head doth grace; The mind of fertile thought doth not decline Preserved yet from the ravages of time Since I can never hope my first desire, To shake thy hand, which would my soul inspire, Now e're yet "the cord is loosed or pitcher broken," Grant me with thine own hand this little token: Ere yet that hand by feebleness grows lame, With condescension write for me thy name. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MEMORY OF MARTHA by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR TRAVEL by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY OVER THE RIVER by NANCY WOODBURY PRIEST THE SEAMY SIDE OF MOTLEY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS SURSUM CORDA by MARGARET CARROLL BRADY IN MEMORIAM: J. MACMEIKIN; DIED APRIL 1883 by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN THE INVENTORY, IN ANSWER TO ... SURVEYOR OF TXAES by ROBERT BURNS |