THE SILKEN TASSEL
While in the early glimmerings of Spring
My little feet were dancing with the flowers,
I found a purse tied with a silken string
Hanging out from the hands of honeyed hours.
The treasure that it bore was not of earth,
And yet it had the stamp of human face;
I hid it in my h e a rt: I knew its worth :
One coin could buy all beauty’s garner’d grace.
Since then I’ve walk’d the rainbow-paths of Life,
Amidst the orchards of the earth and sky;
This purse has help’d to win the time-old strife,
-And link’d the distant heaven and earth more nigh.
And now, I spread the carpet of my soul
Before thy feet, and place this nazar poor—
The Silken Tassel of my purse unroll
And scatter its contents upon the floor !
