Page:Poems PiattVol2.djvu/128

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SAD WISDOM: Four Years Old.
"Well, but some time I will be dead;
Then you will love me, too!"
Ah! mouth so wise for mouth so red,
I wonder how you knew.
(Closer, closer, little brown head—
Not long can I keep you!)

Here, take this one poor bud to hold,
Take this long kiss and last;
Love cannot loosen one fixed fold
Of the shroud that holds you fast—
Never, never; oh, cold, so cold!
All that was sweet is past.

Oh, tears, and tears, and foolish tears,
Dropped on a grave somewhere! . . .
Does not the child laugh in my ears
What time I feign despair?

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