TO MY CHILD-FRIEND

DEDICATION TO "THE GAME OF LOGIC".

I CHARM in vain: for never again,

All keenly as my glance I bend,

Will Memory, goddess coy,

Embody for my joy

Departed days, nor let me gaze

On thee, my Fairy Friend!

Yet could thy face, in mystic grace,

A moment smile on me, ’twould send

Far-darting rays of light

From Heaven athwart the night,

By which to read in very deed

Thy spirit, sweetest Friend!

So may the stream of Life’s long dream

Flow gently onward to its end,

With many a floweret gay,

A-down its willowy way:

May no sigh vex, no care perplex,

My loving little Friend!

1886.