Poems (Rice)/Valentine Congratulatory
VALENTINE CONGRATULATORY.
to rev. c. f. k.
MY paper is blank, and how to begin, Of all is the hardest to do, On a subject so tender, and cherished to win A kindly remembrance from you; The gods have all smiled, for so have I learned, Smiled down on your beautiful nest; The torches of love have steadily burned, And you with a daughter are blest.
'Tis sweet to behold an image so fair, So pretty, so helpless, and frail; I tremble, e'en while I reverently dare This measure my pen to avail, To drop you a line—though harsh to the ear, My strain is of sympathy, love—That she may illume your earthly career, Be a star in your garland above.
For her, O one more humble word I must speak, And this with a tender caress; So lovely and winsome, so fragile and weak, I'll pray that good angels may bless; That you may select, with skill and with care, A crucible pure, to refine And polish your gem all perfectly fair, And then to her Saviour resign.