Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/145

 THE GOLD NUGGET. 139

O marriage-ring ! Close, closer cling, Tho grief and sorrow shall betide !

Art thou a pen, whose task shall be

To drown in ink

What thinkers think ?

Oh, wisely write,

That pages white Be not the worse for ink and thee.

A clasp to hold the baby s sleeve,

That shoulders white

May shame the light ?

Oh, kiss the skin

Thy links within Thy tracery on its whiteness leave.

A golden eagle hidden close

In miser s clutch

From gen rous touch?

O eagle, fly !

Where misery For thee shall hide its wants and woes.

Be worthy of thyself, O gold !

By brain outwrought,

By soft heart taught ;

Call charity to work with thee

Untiringly, And so be better than thy mould.

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