Riley Songs of Home eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 53 pages of information about Riley Songs of Home.

Riley Songs of Home eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 53 pages of information about Riley Songs of Home.

HER BEAUTIFUL HANDS

O your hands—­they are strangely fair! 
Fair—­for the jewels that sparkle there,—­
Fair—­for the witchery of the spell
That ivory keys alone can tell;
But when their delicate touches rest
Here in my own do I love them best,
As I clasp with eager acquisitive spans
My glorious treasure of beautiful hands!

Marvelous—­wonderful—­beautiful hands! 
They can coax roses to bloom in the strands
Of your brown tresses; and ribbons will twine. 
Under mysterious touches of thine,
Into such knots as entangle the soul,
And fetter the heart under such a control
As only the strength of my love understands—­
My passionate love for your beautiful hands.

As I remember the first fair touch
Of those beautiful hands that I love so much,
I seem to thrill as I then was thrilled,
Kissing the glove that I found unfilled—­
When I met your gaze, and the queenly bow,
As you said to me, laughingly, “Keep it now!”
And dazed and alone in a dream I stand
Kissing this ghost of your beautiful hand.

When first I loved, in the long ago,
And held your hand as I told you so—­
Pressed and caressed it and gave it a kiss,
And said “I could die for a hand like this!”
Little I dreamed love’s fulness yet
Had to ripen when eyes were wet,
And prayers were vain in their wild demands
For one warm touch of your beautiful hands.

Beautiful Hands!  O Beautiful Hands! 
Could you reach out of the alien lands
Where you are lingering, and give me, to-night,
Only a touch—­were it ever so light—­
My heart were soothed, and my weary brain
Would lull itself into rest again;
For there is no solace the world commands
Like the caress of your beautiful hands.

[Illustration]

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Riley Songs of Home from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.