Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/215

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Float on, loved flag of Freedom
O'er many a foreign sea
And wake in the hearts of thousands
The echoes of liberty!


BABY BESSIE

With strong, free motion of life and limb
Bessie is climbing the hill,
With rose-cheeks under her bonnet's brim
To the time of her own sweet will;
May the world hold peace and happiness
And all that is good and true for Bess.

"Bess," hear the parrot call
From his cage in the old madrone,
Hugged to her heart is Jane the doll
Now faded and aged grown,
The flowers of Springtime will bloom again
But beauty will never come back to Jane.

Up the long grass slopes where the sheep flocks browse
She comes without pause for rest
A ginger cooky from Grandpa's house
Held tight in her chubby fist,
I'll have sardines and doughnuts and apples and tea
For Bessie has come to take lunch with me.

Bessie, you brave little mountaineer,
I've a picture that's hid from sight
But I could see it as plain and clear
If I shut my eyes up tight,—
A vision of brown-eyed rosiness
A little friend by the name of Bess.

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