Poems (Curwen)/Nora Linton

by Annie Isabel Curwen

No eye so bright, no step so light,
 No laugh so full of glee
As a girl's, I ween, at sweet sixteen,
 When the heart is trouble-free.

O the days are fair when devoid of care,
 The golden hours so fleet;
And life so full and beautiful
 Ere the "brook and river meet."

Rose-hued are dreams, for Hope's bright beams
 Illuminate the way;
And the castles built are by fancy gilt
 With many a shining ray.

Ay! girlhood's time flows on like rhyme,
 All things are couleur-de-rose;
Youth loves the dance, tales of romance,
 And leaveth age the prose.

Like to a bud is maidenhood,
 Unfolding every hour;
We watch the dawn of young life's morn
 As we would watch a flow'r.

I love to behold fair youth unfold,
 To watch old Time transform
The childish face, while he adds new grace
 Unto the girlish form.

No days will e'er be half so fair,
 Or faith so firm and strong;
No joys so pure, or sorrows fewer,
 Than when the heart is young.

Time, time, alas! doth swiftly pass,
 And year succeedeth year;
Youth, full of hope, longeth to cope
 With the great world lying near.

O, girlhood sweet! O, dancing feet!
 Nearing the boundary line,
Be not in haste life's cup to taste,
 There's bitters in its wine.

No song love sings, no joy life brings,
 Or gifts Dame Fortune showers,
Can e'er impart unto the heart
 The charm of girlhood's hours.