Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/154

126 Verse is your true employ.

And surely, Thomas Bailey,

In all this new-world mêlée

Too seldom comes the poet,

And when he does we know it!

Yes, no one else can do

The work that's play to you.

So spend your precious time in

Your master art of rhymin',

Then shall you keep the praise

Of these and future days.

VI—A THEME

VII—THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE NURSERY

(FOR F. AND R.)

wild surprise

Four great eyes

In two small heads

From neighboring beds

Looked out—and winkt—

And glittered and blinkt

At a very queer sight

In the dim dawn-light.

As plain as can be

A fairy tree

Flashes and glimmers

And shakes and shimmers.

Red, green, and blue