<h2><SPAN name="MY_SWEETBRIAR_MAID" id="MY_SWEETBRIAR_MAID"></SPAN>My Sweetbriar Maid</h2>
<div class="poetry">
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><span class="letra">I</span> CALLED her sweetbriar when first we walked,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Deep down in the winding lane,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The wild birds sang, and we laughed, and we talked,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Deep down in the winding lane,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">We met in the sunshine of one spring day—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Youthful, and happy, and free,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Into her keeping my heart flew straightway,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Pretty and piquant, was she.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Her hazel eyes were so gentle and meek,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">But scornful her mouth and chin,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Her brow was severe, but each rosy cheek<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Had a roguish dimple in,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And I cried, “I love you my sweetbriar maid!”<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And then, oh moment of bliss,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">My lips to her cherry-red lips I laid,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And tasted my first love-kiss.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">’Twas ever and ever so long ago,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">But I remember it yet,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Ah, the springtime of life, its bloom and its glow,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The heart can never forget,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_184" id="page_184"></SPAN>{184}</span><br/></span>
<span class="i0">My sweetbriar maid I would give to-day,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The wealth, the fame and the gold<br/></span>
<span class="i0">That the years have brought, if they’d roll away,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And leave us the thrill of old.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">If only straight backward old time would move—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">(Ah, wishing is all in vain),<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And leave us with youth, and joy, and love,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Deep down in that winding lane.<br/></span></div>
</div></div>
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