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232
acrostics.

No eye so bright, no step so light,
No laugh so full of glee
As a girl's, I ween, at sweet sixteen,
When the heart is trouble-free.

O the days are fair when devoid of care,
The golden hours so fleet;
And life so full and beautiful
Ere the "brook and river meet."

Rose-hued are dreams, for Hope's bright beams
Illuminate the way;
And the castles built are by fancy gilt
With many a shining ray.

Ay! girlhood's time flows on like rhyme,
All things are couleur-de-rose;
Youth loves the dance, tales of romance,
And leaveth age the prose.

Like to a bud is maidenhood,
Unfolding every hour;
We watch the dawn of young life's morn
As we would watch a flow'r.

I love to behold fair youth unfold,
To watch old Time transform
The childish face, while he adds new grace
Unto the girlish form.