POETRY.
"IF I WERE FAIR."
!" Then she looked into her mirror."] IF I were fair!
If I had little hands, and slender feet; If to my cheeks the colour rich and sweet Came at a word, and faded at a frown : If I had clinging curls of burnish'd brown : If I had dreamy eyes aglow with smiles, And graceful limbs, and pretty girlish wiles :— If I were fair, Love would not turn aside ; Life's paths, so narrow, would be broad and wide, If I were fair!
If I were fair, Perhaps like other maidens I might hold A true heart's store of tried and tested gold. Love waits on Beauty, though sweet Love alone, It seems to me, for aught might well atone. But Beauty's charm is strong, and Love obeys The mystic witchery of her shy ways. If I were fair, my years would seem so few : Life would unfold sweet pictures to my view, If I were fair !
If I were fair, Perhaps the baby, with a scream of joy, To clasp my neck would throw away its toy, And hide its dimples in my shining hair, Bewilder'd by the maze of glory there!
But now :—oh ! shadow of a young girl's face ; Uncoloned lips that Pain's cold fingers trace, You will not blame the child whose wee hands close, Not on the blighted bud, but on the rose So rich and fair.
If I were fair, Oh! just a little fair, with some soft touch About my face to glorify it much!
If no one shunn'd my presence, or my kiss, My heart would almost break beneath its bliss.
'Tis said, each pilgrim shall attain his goal, And perfect light shall flood each blinded soul, When day's flush merges into sunset's bars, And night is here. And then beyond the stars I shall be fair !
EDITH RUTTER.
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