BABY'S AGE
by: Henry Timrod (1829-1867)
- HE came with April blooms and
showers;
- We count her little life by flowers.
- As buds the rose upon her cheek,
- We choose a flower for every week.
- A week of hyacinths, we say,
- And one of heart's-ease, ushered May;
- And then because two wishes met
- Upon the rose and violet --
I liked the Beauty, Kate, the Nun --
- The violet and the rose count one.
- A week the apple marked with white;
- A week the lily scored in light;
- Red poppies closed May's happy moon,
- And tulips this blue week in June.
- Here end as yet the flowery links;
- To-day begins the week of pinks;
- But soon -- so grave, and deep, and wise
- The meaning grows in Baby's eyes,
- So very deep for Baby's age --
- We think to date a week with sage!
"Baby's Age" is reprinted
from The Poems of Henry Timrod. Ed. Paul H. Hayne. New
York: E. J. Hale & Son, 1873. |
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POEMS BY HENRY TIMROD |
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