Lapsus Calami (Aug 1891)/To P. L., aged 4½

To P. L., Aged 4½ (1891)
J.K.S.
1992578To P. L., Aged 4½1891J.K.S.

Ah Phyllis! did I only dare
To hope that, as the years go by,
And you, a maid divinely fair,
The cynosure of every eye,
Have fixed the wandering minds of men,
And found a fare for scores of hearses,
You still will open, now and then,
My little book of verses;

Or did I, bolder yet, aspire
To hope that any phrase of mine,
Aglow with memory's cheering fire
Will burn within that heart of thine;
Although my brow be bare of bays,
My coffers not replete with gain,
I shall not—what's the foolish phrase?—
Have written quite in vain.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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