Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/112

108 Wishing to appear not too much laden

With the wealth for which in youth he toiled;

Speaking kindly to each pretty maiden,

Stopping to caress each his neighbor's child—

Letting fall some little drops of kindness,

On their youthful hearts in very blindness.

Pleasant evening hour! when households gather

All their treasures round the ample board;

Roguish pet, and proud and sober father,

Handsome brother, by the belles adored;

Gentle sister, like a lily-flower,

Like a tall white lily growing there,

Queen of all the rest in her sweet power—

Reigning by her beauty, unaware:

Happy hour! and happy hearts, that meeting,

Hear and give love's ever-gentle greeting!

SIX.

SEVEN.

The rosy twilight of a summer eve—

When changing shadows play along the sky,