Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/142

 136 FAIR GLANCES.

��FAIR GLANCES.

FAIR are all glances evermore From loving human eyes, Whose silent speech we treasure up

Sweetest of mysteries. From Baby s wistful questioning,

Peering o er being s verge,

To eyes made dim by river-mist

Borne up by Jordan s surge.

Fair is the glance of shy surprise

When, from the maiden s heart, A messenger goes stealing up,

And while the lashes part, Holds up the love-light at the gate

Through lid and iris fold ; Then starts away, a fearsome thing,

Lest it might seem too bold.

Fair is the lingering, loving look

The trav ller backward sends From the last hilltop on the way,

Ere he that hill descends, Back to the roof where, nested safe,

He waited for his wings Back to the tree where every morn

The well-known robin sings.

Fair is the mother s tender eye, Though dim its shrouded light,

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