Heart Songs

<h2><SPAN name="ONLY_A_PICTURE" id="ONLY_A_PICTURE"></SPAN>Only a Picture</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="letra">S</span>OMETHING to show me&mdash;well, my lass,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Make haste, I have no time to idle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">These bright spring hours they seem to pass<br/></span> <span class="i2">Like colts that fly from bit and bridle.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A picture&mdash;well, if that is all,<br/></span> <span class="i2">I can’t&mdash;my child don’t look so sorry,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I’ll come and see, although I call<br/></span> <span class="i2">The whole thing only waste and worry.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But have your nonsense while you may,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Your brushes, paints, and long-haired master,<br/></span> <span class="i0">They’re pretty whims for you who see<br/></span> <span class="i2">Such beauty in a canvas plaster.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">What’s in a picture? there’s but one<br/></span> <span class="i2">Could win for me an hour’s gazing;<br/></span> <span class="i0">It comes sometimes when day is done,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And dusk falls on the cattle grazing.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A big, old house that fronts the sea,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The sunlight falling on the gables,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The wood&mdash;what’s this? Why, can it be!<br/></span> <span class="i2">Lass, you have neatly turned the tables.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_046" id="page_046"></SPAN>{46}</span><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Know it? Ay, know each blade and stalk,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Each sunny knoll, each shady cover,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Why, every flower beside yon walk<br/></span> <span class="i2">Has had in me a faithful lover!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Know it? See yonder worn old step,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The open door, the bench beside it,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The rose-tree trained where it should creep&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i2">I almost see the hand that tied it.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The sunny windows seem to throw<br/></span> <span class="i2">On me a tender look of greeting,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And in my heart awakes the glow<br/></span> <span class="i2">Of other days so glad and fleeting.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The dear old faces, one by one,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Come out from shadows swiftly thronging,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Dear picture of my boyhood’s home,<br/></span> <span class="i2">My eyes are dim with love and longing!<br/></span></div> </div></div> <p class="c"><ANTIMG src="images/decoud.png" width-obs="25" alt="[Decorative image unavailable.]" /></p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_047" id="page_047"></SPAN>{47}</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />