504
KNICKERBOCKER GALLERY.
When happy lips had pressed her cheek,
And happiest lips her "bonny mou',"
And she had smiled, with blushes meek,
On my congratulary bow,
A sunbeam, balmy with delight,
Entranced, subdued me, till I quite
Forgot my anti-nuptial vow,
And almost asked, with serious brow,
And voice of true and earnest tone.
The bridesmaid with the prettiest face
To take me, heart and hand, and grace
A wedding of my own.
And happiest lips her "bonny mou',"
And she had smiled, with blushes meek,
On my congratulary bow,
A sunbeam, balmy with delight,
Entranced, subdued me, till I quite
Forgot my anti-nuptial vow,
And almost asked, with serious brow,
And voice of true and earnest tone.
The bridesmaid with the prettiest face
To take me, heart and hand, and grace
A wedding of my own.
Time's years, it suits me not to say
How many, since that joyous day,
Have watched, and cheered thee on thy way
O'er Duty's chosen path severe,
And seen thee, heart and thought full grown,
Tread manhood's thorns and tempters down,
And win, like Pythian charioteer,
The wreaths and race-cups of renown—
Seen thee, thy name and deeds, enshrined
Within the peerage-book of mind—
And seen my morning prophecy
Truth-blazoned on a noon-day sky,
That he, whose worth could win a wife
Lovely as thine, at Life's beginning,
Would always wield the power, through life,
Of winning all things worth the winning.
How many, since that joyous day,
Have watched, and cheered thee on thy way
O'er Duty's chosen path severe,
And seen thee, heart and thought full grown,
Tread manhood's thorns and tempters down,
And win, like Pythian charioteer,
The wreaths and race-cups of renown—
Seen thee, thy name and deeds, enshrined
Within the peerage-book of mind—
And seen my morning prophecy
Truth-blazoned on a noon-day sky,
That he, whose worth could win a wife
Lovely as thine, at Life's beginning,
Would always wield the power, through life,
Of winning all things worth the winning.
Hark! there are songs on Summer's breeze,
And dance and song in Summer's trees,
And choruses of birds and bees
In Air, their world of happy wings;
What far-off minstrelsy, whose tone
And words are sweeter than their own,
Has waked these cordial welcomings?
'Tis nearer now, and now more near,
And now rings out like clarion clear.
They come—the merry bells of Fame!
They come—to glad me with thy name,
And dance and song in Summer's trees,
And choruses of birds and bees
In Air, their world of happy wings;
What far-off minstrelsy, whose tone
And words are sweeter than their own,
Has waked these cordial welcomings?
'Tis nearer now, and now more near,
And now rings out like clarion clear.
They come—the merry bells of Fame!
They come—to glad me with thy name,
