Poems (E. L. F.)/To nora

by E. L. F.

T0 NORA,

 

ON HER THIRD BIRTH-DAY, JUNE 21

Nora, my heart's darling!
 This is thy natal day,
And three short years of thy young life
 Have briefly passed away.
May a mother's blessing linger
 Ever round thee, Nora, dear!
Though it save thee not from sorrow,
 It may wile away a tear.

Thou'rt the child of early promise,
 Of many hopes and fears;
May thy joyous-hearted gladness
 Bear thee on through upward years.
There is grace in every motion,
 And the health-bloom on thy cheek
Tells of many a bright emotion
 That thy lip can hardly speak.

There is an infant beauty
 In thy carelessness and glee;
For what is all the Future,
 If the Present's joy to thee?
Oh! may thy young heart's promise
 Be as bright as it looks now,
And cast no after-shadow
 On thy pure and sunny brow.

May each year that makes thee older,
 Make thee wiser than the last,
For happier thou canst hardly be
 Than in thy young morning past.
Adieu, my darling Nora,
 Till again thy mother sing
The brightness of her summer flower
 In its sweet and early spring.