Page:The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858) Holmes.djvu/103

Rh While the swift seasons hurry back To find the wished-for day?" —Ah, truest soul of womankind! Without thee, what were life? One bliss I cannot leave behind: I'll take—my—precious—wife! —The angel took a sapphire pen And wrote in rainbow dew, "The man would be a boy again, And be a husband too!" —"And is there nothing yet unsaid Before the change appears? Remember, all their gifts have fled With those dissolving years!" Why, yes; for memory would recall My fond paternal joys; I could not bear to leave them all; I'll take—my—girl—and—boys! The smiling angel dropped his pen,— "Why this will never do; The man would be a boy again, And be a father too!" And so I laughed,—my laughter woke The household with its noise,— And wrote my dream, when morning broke, To please the gray-haired boys.