Classic Poem

The artless and the beautiful,
The fairest of the fair,
Around her shoulders clustering
Her sunny, light-brown hair,
Her meek blue eye intelligent,
God's wondrous works would scan,
And a smile would animate the face
Of our Gentle Mary Ann.

The parted lip, betokening
The peaceful soul within,
That soul as yet unsullied,
Unendangered by a sin;
The brow where earnest thoughtfulness
Some goodly work would plan,
Combined to make us idolize
Our Gentle Mary Ann.

And thus for sixteen summers
She grew upon our sight,
A patient girl of tenderness,
A sinless child of light;
As free from worldly wilfulness
As when her life began,
Was this, our lovely charge from heaven,
Our Gentle Mary Ann.

The angels from their starry homes,
Looked on her smiling face,
And beckoned our darling child
Unto their resting-place;
When, lo! from out the graceful throng
An infant cherub ran,
And nestled in the guileless breast
Of our Gentle Mary Ann.

" Sister, " she said, " we wait for thee,
Yon angel host and I,
To bear thee in thy innocence
To our dwelling in the sky. "
The heavens, slowly opening,
A psalm of love began,
And the cherub, pointing upwards,
Said, " come, Gentle Mary Ann. "

Calmly she faded from our sight,
In that infant soul's embrace,
And we watched her passing upwards
With a smile upon her face, —
Passing upward towards heaven,
Upward to the Son of Man,
In whose bosom rests the spirit
Of our Gentle Mary Ann.