GRANDMOTHER'S LOVER
He brought me a nosegay so funny,
Funny as funny can be,—
Clover and catnip and yarrow,
And a bit of a mulberry-tree;
And he said I looked like my grandma
When she was a slip of a girl;
And would I give him a keepsake,
A wee little, dear little curl?
And he bowed with a stately obeisance to me,
My grandma's old lover from over the sea.
Funny as funny can be,—
Clover and catnip and yarrow,
And a bit of a mulberry-tree;
And he said I looked like my grandma
When she was a slip of a girl;
And would I give him a keepsake,
A wee little, dear little curl?
And he bowed with a stately obeisance to me,
My grandma's old lover from over the sea.
MY OWN LOVER
He also brought me a nosegay,
My own lover, tender and true,
Roses and roses and roses,
Tied up with a ribbon of blue;
And he said in the tenderest, happiest tone,
"Roses for you, dearest rose of my own."
My own lover, tender and true,
Roses and roses and roses,
Tied up with a ribbon of blue;
And he said in the tenderest, happiest tone,
"Roses for you, dearest rose of my own."
And then I told him the story
Of my grandma's lover so old,
And showed him the old-fashioned posy
Slipped into a circlet of gold.—
A ring that for grandmother's sake I must wear,
Diamonds in exchange for a curl of my hair.
Of my grandma's lover so old,
And showed him the old-fashioned posy
Slipped into a circlet of gold.—
A ring that for grandmother's sake I must wear,
Diamonds in exchange for a curl of my hair.
"Diamonds are cold," said my dear one,
"But rubies are warm, bright and true—
Roses and rubies, my darling,
Are the best and the fittest for you;
Let him carry his diamonds back over the sea,
And take my three gifts, roses, rubies, and—me."
"But rubies are warm, bright and true—
Roses and rubies, my darling,
Are the best and the fittest for you;
Let him carry his diamonds back over the sea,
And take my three gifts, roses, rubies, and—me."
30
