Songs of Womanhood Part 3

Little ladies, white and green, Are you glad to cheer us?

Hunger not for where you've been, Stay till Spring be near us!

Frost

The flowers in the garden Are very cold at night; When I look out of window Their beds are hard and white.

The primrose and the scilla, The merry crocus too-- O Jane! if we were flowers, What should we children do?

We'd have to sleep all naked Beneath the windy trees; Yet we should die, I know it, With even a chemise....

Apples

Red cheeks, red cheeks, Will you play with me?

No boy, pale boy, I want to climb that tree.

Red cheeks, red cheeks, You will tumble down-- No boy, pale boy, I'll eat the apples brown.

Red cheeks, red cheeks, Barns are best for rain-- No boy, pale boy, I'll soon be down again.

Lonely Children

I

The trees are dusty in the Park, The gra.s.s is hard and brown; I'm glad I've got a Noah's ark, But I'm sorry I'm in town.

A lot of little girls and boys Are not so rich as me; But O! I'd give them all my toys For sh.e.l.ls beside the sea....

II

The flowers are happy in the garden, For the bees are always there; The clouds are happy up in Heaven With the angels in the air; But little boy and little mouse Are rather lonely in the house.

Playgrounds

In summer I am very glad We children are so small, For we can see a thousand things That men can't see at all.

They don't know much about the moss And all the stones they pa.s.s: They never lie and play among The forests in the gra.s.s:

They walk about a long way off; And, when we're at the sea, Let father stoop as best he can He can't find things like me.

But, when the snow is on the ground And all the puddles freeze, I wish that I were very tall, High up above the trees....

Fairings

O, Father has donned his suit of brown And saddled the gelding gray, And he's ridden off to London town Where the streets are fine and gay.

And Mother has asked for a yard of lace, And Kate for a kerchief new, And Moll for a mirror to look at her face, And Bessie for beads, all blue;

And d.i.c.k has been promised a kite so tall, And Jamie a leathern whip, And Baby shall play with a painted ball, And O! I have asked for a s.h.i.+p!--

But our eldest sister stood apart, And I think I heard her say: 'O bring me back a little white heart Like the one I lost in May....'

The Flower to the Bud

Tiny heart beneath my hand, Say, what treasures will you hold?

O, what blossom will unfold, Late to bloom, or soon to fade, From this bud, my baby-maid?

Through what shallows will you wade, To what heights will you aspire In your spirit's white desire?

Will you mar or will you make?

Will you give or will you take?

Will you glow or will you break With the running of the sand-- Tiny heart beneath my hand?...

SIX SONGS OF GIRLHOOD

Love and the Maidens

He seemed asleep; his wings were wet With dew; he lay among the flowers, Sweeter than Spring; his radiant curls With primrose and with violet Were crowned; and in a silent ring the girls Watched, all an April morning's misty hours....