By the Sea, and Other Verses

<h2><SPAN name="A_SMILE" id="A_SMILE">A SMILE</SPAN></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The gliding of a fairy form<br/></span> <span class="i2">And rosy lips that knew no guile,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With wonder parted, came to ask,<br/></span> <span class="i2">"Papa, what is a smile?"<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A smile, whate'er it is, then stole<br/></span> <span class="i2">That gentle parent's features o'er;<br/></span> <span class="i0">For ne'er to him had been proposed<br/></span> <span class="i2">Query so strange before.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But while he pondered in his heart<br/></span> <span class="i2">How he should to his child reply,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A new, triumphant joy lit up<br/></span> <span class="i2">Her loving, lustrous eye;&mdash;<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And with this gladsome, new-found thought,<br/></span> <span class="i2">She answered in her own behalf:<br/></span> <span class="i0">"Oh, now, I know; a smile must be<br/></span> <span class="i2"><i>The whisper to a laugh!</i>"<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</SPAN></span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />