Butterfly

TO CLARISSA, WITH A BOOK

TO CLARISSA, WITH A BOOK

Clarissa dear, ours is the heritage

Of the great loves that blaze the trail before us—

Our grandsires, our great grandsires set the stage,

Their love, remembered, is our Grecian Chorus.

Hawaii, California, and New York,

These were the settings for the friendly story

That still we write, in hours of play and work,

In bitter hours, in glad, in grief and glory.

Now towards The Happy End our roadways move,

But our sons’ sons,—and theirs,—shall make more certain

Another hundred years of locking love,—

A thousand years before the final curtain!