SNOWFLAKES
BY
ESTHER NELSON KARN.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRESS OF GEO. F. LASHER.
1900.
COPYRIGHTED BY
ESTHER NELSON KARN.
1900.
TO MY HUSBAND,
S. A. KARN,
WHOSE KIND ENCOURAGEMENT HAS ENABLED
ME TO WRITE THIS LITTLE BOOK, THE
SAME IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED.
The Author.
Table of Contents
[DANCE OF THE SNOWFLAKES.]
[AN OCTOBER DAY.]
[WELCOME, SWEET MAY.]
[LAKESIDE.]
[AUTUMN.]
[TO A WATER-LILY.]
[THE CYCLONE.]
[SUNSET ON THE LAKE.]
[TO MY WHEEL.]
[DESPONDENCY.]
[AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN.]
[DANCE OF THE RIPPLES.]
[THE PESSIMIST.]
[THE FIRST EASTER DAWN.]
[INDIA.]
[WEARY.]
[TO A VIOLET.]
[GOLDEN DAYS.]
[BABY MINE.]
[LULLABY.]
[A DAY IN JUNE.]
[CHRISTMAS ON THE FARM.]
[MY LITTLE BROWN-EYED SWEETHEART.]
[I KNOW TWO EYES.]
[CUPID'S MISTAKE.]
[DEWEY'S VICTORY.]
[BATTLE OF SANTIAGO BAY.]
[THE OLD MAN'S STORY.]
[TO MY DOG.]
[SOMEBODY.]
[THE HERO OF EVERY-DAY LIFE.]
[THE CHILD'S INQUIRY.]
[TO THE OLD TOWN CLOCK.]
[AFTERWHILE, SOMEWHERE.]
DANCE OF THE SNOWFLAKES.
"Let's dance to the brown old earth to-night!"
Cried one little flake of snow;
"The autumn days have all passed by,—
I'm tired of my home here in the sky."
So they all agreed to go.
They dressed themselves in a misty film
Of purest pearly white;
Their feet were clad in velvet down,
As soft and white as the filmy gown
They wore to the dance that night.
Wrapped 'round with a drape of raveled gauze
Were these little fays so fair.
When out from a cloud a pale star beamed,
Bright diamonds sparkled, laughed, and gleamed
In their fleecy, tangled hair.
All ready, so pretty a crowd were they
That naught could their charms enhance;
Then softly and quickly they sped away,
For the whisp'ring wind was the cab that they
Rode in to the snowflakes' dance.
They flew over housetop, hilltop, dell,
With dances and with delight.
Though ne'er did sound of their presence tell;
Wherever their fairy footsteps fell,
All turned to a crystal white.
In the daintiest robes the trees were dressed,
That ever you'd wish to see;
The wayworn traveler, he was blessed,
And stroked, and kissed, and soft-caressed,
By these fays in rapturous glee.
Into every crevice and crack they peeped,
They danced till the morning light;
They left the print of their tiny feet
O'er country road and city street,
In frolicsome fun that night.
When the rosy face of the morning sun
Peeped timidly out to view,
He beheld the earth, last night so brown,
Arrayed in a snow-white velvet gown
That sparkled like dancing dew.
AN OCTOBER DAY.
'Tis sunrise o'er the eastern hills.
All hail! thou lovely morn!
Thy tender blush, thy mellow light
Proclaim "The autumn's born."
All nature is so wondrous fair,
Bedecked with golden sheen—
A fleecy cloudlet, here and there,
In azure sky is seen.
The gold and crimson leaves that give
The trees their autumn gown,
Are scattered by the gentle breeze
Upon the meadows brown.
Tho' summer flow'rs that were so fair
Have faded, one by one,
The goldenrod, in beauty rare,
Her reign has just begun.
The grapevines now are laden with
Sweet clusters, oh, so blue!
And scattered o'er the orchard ground
Are rosy apples, too.
Oh, who could sigh for summer skies,
For summer flowers and trees,
For singing birds and rainbow showers,
'Mid autumn scenes like these?
As sinks the glorious "King of Day"
Adown the western sky,
He bathes the trees and hilltops in
A flood of crimson dye.
He sets the westland all aglow
Before he sinks away;
So endeth, as a beauteous dream,
This lovely autumn day.
WELCOME, SWEET MAY.
Welcome, sweet May!
With thy sunshine and showers
Thou'st driven away
Old winter's dark hours.
Poor fellow! he seemed rather loth to depart,
Till thou, with thy sunshine, compelled him to start.
Welcome, sweet May!
Welcome, sweet May!
That bringest to me,
Wherever I stray,
A sweet memory,
When fragrant pink blossoms hung thick overhead,
And love lay asleep in a violet bed.
Welcome, sweet May!
Welcome, sweet May!
With thy sunshine and showers,
When young love awoke
From sleep 'mong the flowers.
Each year, in thy sunshine, 'neath heavens of blue,
With thy sweet, fragrant blossoms he's wakened anew.
Welcome, sweet May!
LAKESIDE.[1]
'Tis the dearest, coolest place I can find;
There the locust and the wild grape entwined
Float their dewy fragrance ever
O'er the dancing St. Joe river
On the wings of the soft drowsy wind.
In the coziest of homes, neat and new,
Dwell its people so kind-hearted and true.
Not a wall or tower high
Mars the tender, sunlight sky,
Or shuts out the glad rainbow from view.
When a dwelling for his mate is in quest,
Does the robin find its shelter the best.
There his sweetest notes he brings,
And a flood of music flings
O'er your head as you pass 'neath his nest.
There are morning-glories dripping with dew,
And the dogwood blossoms hang over you.
In a drowse of rapture sweet
Does this vale look up to meet,
And to bask in the smile of the blue?
Would your soul free from troubles be made?
All its worries and its burdens unlade?
From the tumult and the heat
Of the noisy city street,
Take yourself to the bliss of its shade.
There you'll drink till you stagger as you plod,
Of the sweets from the blossom-spangled sod,
While your weary frame is drenched,
And your thirsty soul is quenched,
In a shower of the great love of God.
[1] The above is a description of the Lakeside addition to Ft. Wayne, Ind.
AUTUMN.
Enchanting dawn of autumn days,
So clear, so cool, so calm,
O'er all creation breathing forth
Thy sweet refreshing balm!
The woodland dons its brightest hue,
Its rainbow-tinted gown;
Each soft and dreamy breeze that blows
Brings showers of crimson down.
Old earth now groans beneath her load
Of grain and fruited vine,
That thickly hangs o'er orchard wall,
And drips with mellow wine.
The birds fly lazily above,
Bathed in thy misty light,
While on the hillside loll the kine
In morning's gold delight.
Wrapped in thy folds of golden mist,
This restless soul of mine
Is lulled into a blissful dream
Of peace and love divine.
TO A WATER-LILY.
Sweet flower, what cold, unfeeling hand
Hath plucked thee from that shady land
Where clear, cool waters lie,
And velvet mosses kissed thy feet?
Who took thee from thy loved retreat,
And left thee here to die?
Thou fairest gem of all the earth—
E'en bonnie wilds that gave thee birth
Thy petals' sweetness hold.
I drink thy breath in fragrant draught,
Sweeter than royal lips e'er quaffed
From cups of burnished gold.
Who took thee from thy crystal home,
Where finny tribes delight to roam
And frisk in morning play;
Where never harsher sound was heard
Than fall of leaf or trill of bird,
Or winds that softly sway
The trees that bend thy nook above,
And, bending, whispered low of love
To thee, my bonnie flower,
Or whir of swallows' silken flight
Across the waves, the calm delight
Of evening's dappling shower?
Although thou'rt crushed beneath my feet,
Thy dewy fragrance is more sweet
Than at thy frail life's dawn.
Thus, flow'r of love and purity,
This lesson I have learned of thee:
That when my friends are gone,
And fate's rude tread has crushed my heart,
Its blossoms shall more sweets impart
Than at its first love's dawn.
THE CYCLONE.
How still the morn! no leaf is stirred,
Nor fruited branches sway,
Save now and then, from dewy glen,
A breath of new-mown hay,
Or blossoms of the summertide,
Is wafted up the mountain side.
How softly floats the cuckoo's song
Across the sleeping vale;
In mystic glee the echo free
Gives back the fairy tale.
The stream, in drowsy ecstasy,
Is gurgling onward to the sea.
The lark swims slowly in the blue,
The giant oaks so high,
In sunlit haze their branches raise,
As if to kiss the sky.
We hear above the twittering birds,
The placid lowing of the herds.
The silvery laughter from the lips
Of children at their play;
And in the rill below the mill
The horses paw and neigh;
While youths and maidens plight their vows,
And workmen sing behind the plows.
The noon is here, the sky is clear
And tender as the morn;
The ploughman's blest with perfect rest,
Where noontime shade is born.
The bird has ceased his song to trill;
The lowing of the herd is still.
Unnoticed, a dark speck appears
Above the trees!—on high
At rapid pace and fast increase
It scuds across the sky!
Nor stops to rest o'er sea or lands,
Till o'er this lovely vale it stands
An instant, then, as if possessed
Of some aerial deil,
With shriek and yell this imp of hell
Swoops down upon the vale!
Snatches the giant oaks from earth
That nourished them and gave them birth,
And hurls them 'gainst the mountain side!—
One sweep of its black wings,
And all is o'er! And as before
The streamlet laughs and sings;
But carries on its sunny tide
Fragments of debris to the wide
And surging sea,—the shattered boughs
Of oaks that proudly grew
Beside the stream,—is it a dream?
No, there's a baby's shoe!
The sunset's crimson rays are shed
Soft o'er the dying and the dead.
While angels hover near and spread
Their dewy shadows o'er
The vale where morn in joy was born—
A blackened pile! But for
The song of one lone whip-poor-will,
Like to the morning, all is still!
SUNSET ON THE LAKE.
'Tis evening; on Winona Lake
The last glad sunbeams rest,
Shedding their golden glories o'er
Her soft and silken breast.
And as my little boat glides forth
Into their light, behold!
The splashes from my oars are like
Great drops of liquid gold.
And now a softer, richer hue
O'erspreads the western sky;
Trees, hilltops, water—everything
Seems bathed in crimson dye.
And o'er the bosom of the lake
Soft summer breezes glide,
Bringing incense from the lilies
On the other side.
I wonder, oh, I wonder so,
If in that world of bliss
Where sunsets never come, there's aught
More beautiful than this.
Oh, Father Time, if thou from me
All else that's lovely take,
Leave only in my memory
This sunset on the lake.
TO MY WHEEL.
Thou'rt bonnie, my steed, though a bit out of style,
We've traveled together full many a mile;
Yet nothing can give me such perfect delight
As to spring to thy saddle and spin out of sight,
Away from the city of turmoil and strife,
Away from the cares that beset business life,
To a shady, green-carpeted country retreat,
Where hearts ever loving may placidly beat.
Away over pathways with dewdrops bespangled,
Where myrtle and wild morning-glory are tangled,
And the violet borrows its velvety hue