MINNIE, EDITH, AND LIZZIE

by: George Heath (1844-1869)

unny-haired and bright-eyed maidens,
Brimming o’er with fun and frolic,
Gushing out with joyous laughter,
Singing, dancing ’mongst the flowers,
Ever radiant, ever happy.
All unconscious of the darkness,
Looming in the distant future,—
Ye are like a streamlet gushing
From the summit of a mountain,
Skipping over rocks and pebbles,
Dancing round in mazy eddies,
Laughing out in merry cascades,
Toying with the moss and flow’rets,
Frisking, sparkling in the sunshine,
Ever dancing, ever singing,
Ever gushing out with gladness,
Filling all around with music;
All unconscious of the valley,
Where its waters, darker, deeper,
Roll with low and mournful cadence
Through the sedges and the shadows,
Onward to the boundless Ocean.