Page:Poems Welby.djvu/137

I HAVE A FAIR AND GENTLE FRIEND.

I have a fair and gentle friend,
 Whose heart is pure, I ween,
As ever was a maiden's heart
 At joyous seventeen;
She dwells among us like a star,
 That, from its bower of bliss,
Looks down, yet gathers not a stain
 From aught it sees in this.

I do not mean that flattery
 Has never reached her ear;
I only say its syren song
 Has no effect on her;
For she is all simplicity,
 A creature soft and mild—
Though on the eve of womanhood,
 In heart a very child.

And yet, within the misty depths
 Of her dark dreamy eyes,
A shadowy something, like deep thought,
 In tender sadness lies;