FullReads

With the written declaration that,
“As surely as the vine
Grew ’round the stump,” she loved me–
that old sweetheart of mine.

Again I make her presents,
in a really helpless way,–
The big “Rhode Island Greening”–
(I was hungry too, that day!)–

But I follow her from Spelling,
with her hand behind her–so–
And I slip the apple in it–
and the Teacher doesn’t know!

I give my treasures to her–all,–
my pencil–blue-and-red;–
And, if little girls played marbles,
mine should all be hers, instead!–

But she gave me her photograph,
and printed “Ever Thine”
Across the back–in blue-and-red–
that old sweetheart of mine!

And again I feel the pressure
of her slender little hand,
As we used to talk together
of the future we had planned,–

When I should be a poet,
and with nothing else to do
But write the tender verses
that she set the music to….

When we should live together
in a cozy little cot
Hid in a nest of roses,
with a fairy garden-spot,

Where the vines were ever fruited
and the weather ever fine,
And the birds were ever singing
for that old sweetheart of mine….

When I should be her lover
forever and a day,
And she my faithful sweetheart
till the golden hair was gray;

And we should be so happy
that when either’s lips were dumb
They would not smile in Heaven
till the other’s kiss had come.

But, ah! my dream is broken
by a step upon the stair,
And the door is softly opened,
and–my wife is standing there:

Yet with eagerness and rapture
all my visions I resign,–
To greet the living presence
of that old sweetheart of mine.