To Our Friends in The Sunny South
(Alexander McGeoch and Family)
A silent home beside the way we see,
With sleeping lawn o'erhung by leafless tree;
All sombre 'neath the chilling shroud forlorn,
While Nature waits the resurrection morn!
With sleeping lawn o'erhung by leafless tree;
All sombre 'neath the chilling shroud forlorn,
While Nature waits the resurrection morn!
While you enjoy the bending willow's shade,
And revel in the palm grove's verdant glade,
Methinks a sniff of ocean breeze would bring
Your little Muse a merry song to sing.
And revel in the palm grove's verdant glade,
Methinks a sniff of ocean breeze would bring
Your little Muse a merry song to sing.
And when again the swallows homeward fly,
We'll greet you as in many springs gone by.
We'll hail our friends with April's earliest flowers,
And joy to feel their pulsing palms in ours.
We'll greet you as in many springs gone by.
We'll hail our friends with April's earliest flowers,
And joy to feel their pulsing palms in ours.
1917
To My Sister Hannah on Her Eighty-Ninth Birthday
Another year, another year!
An added natal day is here.
We greet thee in thy home so bright,
Nor heed the years of rapid flight.
An added natal day is here.
We greet thee in thy home so bright,
Nor heed the years of rapid flight.
Though feebler footsteps mark thine age,
The mind supreme "yet holds the stage."
Thy form is bowed with burdens borne;
Yet from thy spirit cares are shorn.
The mind supreme "yet holds the stage."
Thy form is bowed with burdens borne;
Yet from thy spirit cares are shorn.
We blithely hail thine added years,
Whilst friendships bring their meed of cheers;
Thy pathway strewn with fragrant flowers,
Thy garden filled with nestling bowers.
Whilst friendships bring their meed of cheers;
Thy pathway strewn with fragrant flowers,
Thy garden filled with nestling bowers.
Again we greet thy natal day;
And at thy feet our love we lay.
With flowers, the signs of words unsaid,
May these fond lines of love be read!
And at thy feet our love we lay.
With flowers, the signs of words unsaid,
May these fond lines of love be read!
July 3, 1922
To a Lady on Her 101St Birthday
An hundred years; an hundred years; yea, more!
'Tis joyous thus o'er life's calm sea to glide;
'Neath azure summer skies from shore to shore,
On fleecy wings above the silvery tide.
'Tis joyous thus o'er life's calm sea to glide;
'Neath azure summer skies from shore to shore,
On fleecy wings above the silvery tide.
O Time, how swiftly glide the passing years!
We sweep the precious golden hours away;
The flowing stream of life so gently cheers,
We count as naught the coming reign of day!
We sweep the precious golden hours away;
The flowing stream of life so gently cheers,
We count as naught the coming reign of day!
Our years are oft with sorry burdens fraught,
But friendships dear bring us life's fragrant flowers;
We press them fondly, though with tearful thought,
And sigh for loved ones who of yore were ours
But friendships dear bring us life's fragrant flowers;
We press them fondly, though with tearful thought,
And sigh for loved ones who of yore were ours
1917
22
