Poems (Toke)/To Emma Laura

by Emma Toke

TO EMMA LAURA.

AGED THREE YEARS.

HOU art dancing on before me, My little happy child;While I, beneath this summer sky,Wander on in languid luxury, To dreamy thoughts beguiled.

Sweet is this "leafy month of June," With all its glorious flowers,But sweeter far to watch the roseThat on thy cheek unclouded glows, The hue of life's best hours.

And brighter than the summer sky Thine eyes' celestial blue,Thy radiant smile and sunny hairThat mantles o'er thy forehead fair, In waves of golden hue.

Around me every leafy brake With woodland music rings;But none so sweet as that wild lay,Thy little voice the livelong day For very gladness sings.

Dance on, dance on, my merry one! Sport through the summer hours;Life will not always thus to theeOne long, bright noon of sunshine be, One path of thornless flowers.

Thy morn is only opening now; O that through life's long dayThe sunlight of this early time,The dewy freshness of thy prime, Might never pass away!

Thou hast thy mother's name, my child; Her anxious love for theeNo better earthly wish can prove,Than that thy lot of wedded love As blessed as hers may be.

But far that future; short the path Thy little feet have trod.We cannot trace thine onward way,But only use the present day, And leave the rest to God.

And oh! if now the precious seed In humble faith is cast,We well may trust that sun and showerWill surely bring our folded flower To bloom in heaven at last!

E.

June, 1845.