Poems (Schiller)/To Nellie Bartley

by Rebecca Jane Schiller

TO NELLIE BARTLEY

Some years ago, my little friend,
 When I was quite a girl,
To please your ma I wrote some rhymes
 About her little pearl.

She thought a babe so fair and sweet
 As her dear little Nell,
Could surely call my talent forth
 And woo the poet's spell.

And so, in many childish words
 I praised each feature fair,
The deep'ning rose tint in your cheek,
 The wealth of auburn hair.

I have the verses, Nellie, yet,
 All safely stored away,
Sweet reminiscences they bring,
 Of childhood's happy day.

Remembrance of each youthful dream
 Comes when I con them o'er,
Of castles such as you will build,
 In but a few years more.

I have not done my dreaming yet,
 Some castles fair and high,
Still point their gleaming turrets
 'Neath the future's gilded sky.

Ah! Nellie, it is sweet to dream,
 But I have found, alas!
Imagination's fairy scenes
 Will never come to pass.

And Nellie, it is better far
 To live among the real,
Than spend the hours of golden youth
 Amid the bright ideal.

For if we'd climb to flowery heights,
 And crowns of laurel wear,
We first must face the hard cold world,
 And sup with toil and care.

Dreaming will never help us through
 The battles of our life,
For we must work if we would be
 The victors in the strife.