Maiden! with the meek, brown eyes, <br />In whose orbs a shadow lies <br />Like the dusk in evening skies! <br /> <br />Thou whose locks outshine the sun, <br />Golden tresses, wreathed in one, <br />As the braided streamlets run! <br /> <br />Standing, with reluctant feet, <br />Where the brook and river meet, <br />Womanhood and childhood fleet! <br /> <br />Gazing, with a timid glance, <br />On the brooklet's swift advance, <br />On the river's broad expanse! <br /> <br />Deep and still, that gliding stream <br />Beautiful to thee must seem, <br />As the river of a dream. <br /> <br />Then why pause with indecision, <br />When bright angels in thy vision <br />Beckon thee to fields Elysian? <br /> <br />Seest thou shadows sailing by, <br />As the dove, with startled eye, <br />Sees the falcon's shadow fly? <br /> <br />Hearest thou voices on the shore, <br />That our ears perceive no more, <br />Deafened by the cataract's roar? <br /> <br />O, thou child of many prayers! <br />Life hath quickeands,--Life hath snares <br />Care and age come unawares! <br /> <br />Like the swell of some sweet tune, <br />Morning rises into noon, <br />May glides onward into June. <br /> <br />Childhood is the bough, where slumbered <br />Birds and blossoms many-numbered;-- <br />Age, that bough with snows encumbered. <br /> <br />Gather, then, each flower that grows, <br />When the young heart overflows, <br />To embalm that tent of snows. <br /> <br />Bear a lily in thy hand; <br />Gates of brass cannot withstand <br />One touch of that magic wand. <br /> <br />Bear through sorrow, wrong, and ruth, <br />In thy heart the dew of youth, <br />On thy lips the smile of truth1 <br /> <br />O, that dew, like balm, shall steal <br />Into wounds that cannot heal, <br />Even as sleep our eyes doth seal; <br /> <br />And that smile, like sunshine, dart <br />Into many a sunless heart, <br />For a smile of God thou art.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/maidenhood/
