Poems (Odom)/Treasured Tokens

TREASURED TOKENS.

I opened my darling's trunk to-day,
Where all of her dresses are laid away;
The little blue robe of soft delaine,
With its bands of white, brought back again
My own little girl, so full of glee,
Standing, impatient, beside my knee,
Teasing and coaxing, with sweet caress,
For Mamma to finish her "petty boo dess."

The little bronze boot she wore that day
Has two of the buttons quite torn away;
One tiny glove of the brightest blue
Is lying beside the half-worn shoe—
How well I remember the sunny day
She lost the other while out at play;
This little white bonnet with fluted frill—
Her sweet blue eyes seem peeping still

From under the ruffle in childish glee,
Always laughing, happy, and free;
The soft curls clinging about her brow
Are wearing a colder covering now,—
Are lying in deeper and sadder shade
Than ever a little white bonnet has made.
A scarlet moth-eaten worsted ball,
The head of a quaint old rubber doll.

A broken cup, with a rim of blue;
A saucer, tarnished and broken too;
A faded ribbon, a small white shell,
Have each a tale of her life to tell.
The earth is cold and the grave is deep,
And my baby lies there fast asleep,
Never to break from her dreamless rest,
Nor waken again upon my breast.

Never to open her sweet blue eyes
This side of the gates of Paradise
And I kneel here on the chamber floor
And tearfully gaze on the clothes she wore;
Softly kissing the little worn shoe,
Tenderly touching the ribbons of blue;
Till time and place and the drifted years
Are swept aside in a storm of tears.