LITTLE NELL.
Clasp your arms round her neck to-night, Little Nell,Arms so delicate, soft and white,And yet so strong in love's strange might;Clasp them around the kneeling form,Fold them tenderly close and warm, And who can tellBut such slight links may draw her back,Away from the fatal, fatal track: Who can tell, Little Nell?
Press your lips to the lips of snow, Little Nell;Oh baby heart, may you never knowThe anguish that makes them quiver so;But now in her weakness and mortal pain,Let your kisses fall like a dewy rain, And who can tellBut your innocent love, your childish kissMay lure her back from the dread abyss; Who can tell, Little Nell.
