Classic Poem

TO CARRIE, BY HER COUSIN .

You had been robbing apple-trees, —
Robbing rosy apple-trecs, —
Stealing from the honey-bees

Stores of sweetness, while I lay,
In the twilight's tender gray,
Dreaming of orchards far away, —

Pale orchard blooms that fell like rain
Upon a far-off phantom plain, —
Dear days that would not dawn again,

And May-moons that would rise no more:
When softly through the open door
A cloud of perfume seemed to pour,

And then I saw two faces loom
Through tufts of pearly apple-bloom,
Filling with rose-light all the room, —

Two fair young faces, smiling through
The pink-white blossoms, and I knew
The May-queen's messengers in you.

I knew the orchard slopes were fair, —
I knew the winds that lingered there
O'er-swept them with enchanted air!

I saw the branches toss and swing,
Heard the bee's elfin bugle ring,
And owned the presence of the Spring.