Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/106

COUSIN LUCRECE Ducking her forehead-top,

Wrinkled and bare,

With a colonial

Furbelowed air

Greeting her next of kin,

Nephew and niece,—

Foolish old, prating old

Cousin Lucrece.

Once every year she had

All she could eat:

Turkey and cranberries,

Pudding and sweet;

Every Thanksgiving,

Up to the great

House of her kinsman, was

Driven in state.

Oh, what a sight to see,

Rigged in her best!

Wearing the famous gown

Drawn from her chest,—

Worn, ere King George's reign

Here chanced to cease,

Once by a forbear

Of Cousin Lucrece.

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