Poems (White)/Love Unalloyed

by Jeannie Copes White

LOVE UNALLOYED

A little boy was just past two.
He loved his aunt as very few
Know how to love in this old earth:
A love that is of higher birth.

One day they went to see a friend,
Politeness he could not pretend;
The little boy would not come in;
No baby consent could they win.
The friend came out to welcome him;
He would not greet—a childish whim.
The aunt's poor hands and skirt were jerked
To get away; he roughly worked.
It was a trial, to be sure.
To gain his love friend tried once more."
I love your aunt," she said, and then
Held out her hands to him again.
He looked into her eyes and read
The meaning that her heart betrayed.
Up stepped the child, no longer shy—
With outstretched arms and smiling eye,
Red lips upturned that she might kiss;
(A pleasure that she did not miss.)

'Twas then the thought came home to me,
How beautiful it was to see
A love so pure, so sweet, so free,
Spring up at once between these two;
Because they must, for well they knew,
Both loving her, they must love too.
For love like this I'll always pray;
Such friends as these are friends to stay.
And may such lives be long to love,
To create more—like that above.
"Tis nearer to the Father's home,
With love so sweet:—the Spirit's throne.