THAT HAPPY COMPANIONSHIP

  Remembering friends of the not long ago,
  Their laughter a gay bubbling song. 
  The whispering of secrets, the rapture of show. 
  The mounting of spirits lit the peak aglow
  And lifted the heart up along

  The forgetting of wrong in a moment of joy,
  Quite erased the hurt and the scar,
  With music of kindness and naught to annoy,
  And gold of the friendship refusing alloy. 
  Thus comrades in their happiness are.

I WATCHED MY FLOWERS

  I watched my flowers grow and brighten barren places;
  They smiled at me the whole day long with brilliant faces
  The blues and reds, the white and yellow in morning dews
  Drove out the hurt of bitter grief and other bruise,
  But now the drought will blight the tender buds and leaves. 
  And parch the earth as the winds blow on scorching sprees,
  ’Til July’s heat and August sun are duly past,
  Yet many things are fine and good at weary last
  For if the rain should come, good seed would surely die. 
  In truth, I should be thankful for a cloudless sky
  To ripen seed that sprout and grow in barren places. 
  And wink at me next year with bright and smiling faces

BEES OF HATRED

  The bees of hatred hover
  Above and around us. 
  A good crop will be hatched
  To torment and sting us.

THIS AFTERNOON

  This afternoon, an angry heart and crude
  Consoled himself with an unkindly deed. 
  Within his soul was hate like garden weed,
  That choked the buds and bulbs.  In childish feud,
  His glee, like noisy urchins brash and rude,
  Who trample flowers, pay no thoughtful heed. 
  The careless acts bring harm and pain with speed. 
  And sin-scarred hearts deceive themselves, delude
  No one.  Such souls will have few friends at last. 
  When life is hard, no one will bear his care
  Unless a kindly one, who looks about
  To help, to pull and clear.  The field is vast! 
  O weary man!  Unhappy world!  “Unfair
  Is life” men say, “The whole is full of doubt.”

SHE RETURNED IT

  She borrowed a lump of sugar
    To sweeten a cup of tea. 
  I felt so very silly
    When she brought it back to me.

TO MY FRIENDS

  On Christmas day, let happy dreams
  Sparkle and flow like bubbling streams.

A MAIDEN’S DREAM

  I often think and dream and ponder
    Of things that I have seen,
  And twist the real into a wonder
    When men and birds convene.

  If I could reach that star up yonder,
    My soul would lift and preen;
  If Summertime would always stay
    My yard would be more green.