Poems (Chilton, 1885)/To V. B. on her Eighteenth Birthday
TO V. B., ON HER EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY.
Again thy mystic clock of life doth strike,
And in the chambers of my heart the few
And sweet vibrations numbering thy years,
Linger like music.—From the sea of time
Another wave rolls to thy feet and breaks.
And now, while Summer with averted eyes
Leaves the green earth to wither and grow cold
In the approaching Autumn's blighting breath,
Life's angel drops upon thy stainless brow
The crown of perfect womanhood.
And in the chambers of my heart the few
And sweet vibrations numbering thy years,
Linger like music.—From the sea of time
Another wave rolls to thy feet and breaks.
And now, while Summer with averted eyes
Leaves the green earth to wither and grow cold
In the approaching Autumn's blighting breath,
Life's angel drops upon thy stainless brow
The crown of perfect womanhood.
As one
Who stands upon a gentle eminence,
And, looking backward, sees with saddened heart
The paths which never may be trod again
Fade in the distance,—so thou standest now.
The fields in which thy childish footsteps strayed
Are bright in memory's retrospective eye:
The well-remembered voices, whose sweet tones
Made up the morning music of thy life,
Thrill thee with melody; forgotten scenes
Grow bright again; and all the past grows bright,
And brighter for the thought that it is past!
Who stands upon a gentle eminence,
And, looking backward, sees with saddened heart
The paths which never may be trod again
Fade in the distance,—so thou standest now.
The fields in which thy childish footsteps strayed
Are bright in memory's retrospective eye:
The well-remembered voices, whose sweet tones
Made up the morning music of thy life,
Thrill thee with melody; forgotten scenes
Grow bright again; and all the past grows bright,
And brighter for the thought that it is past!
But the veiled future hath yet fairer scenes
Than aught the past hath known, for one like thee,
Whose spirit moves by that divinest law
Which shapes the actions of a perfect life:
And brighter, hour by hour, thy life shall grow,
Till merged in that completion which the grave
Hides from our bounded vision. Therefore I,
To whom thy happiness is more than life,
With no regretful feeling greet this day;
Knowing that every year will shed on thee
A choicer blessing than the past hath known,
And bring thee nearer Heaven.
Than aught the past hath known, for one like thee,
Whose spirit moves by that divinest law
Which shapes the actions of a perfect life:
And brighter, hour by hour, thy life shall grow,
Till merged in that completion which the grave
Hides from our bounded vision. Therefore I,
To whom thy happiness is more than life,
With no regretful feeling greet this day;
Knowing that every year will shed on thee
A choicer blessing than the past hath known,
And bring thee nearer Heaven.