A Ballad Of Sweethearts

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Summer may come, in sun-blonde splendor,
To reap the harvest that Springtime sows;
And Fall lead in her old defender,
  Winter, all huddled up in snows:
  Ever a-south the love-wind blows
Into my heart, like a vane asway
  From face to face of the girls it knows--
But who is the fairest it's hard to say.

If Carrie smile or Maud look tender,
  Straight in my bosom the gladness glows;
But scarce at their side am I all surrender
  When Gertrude sings where the garden grows:
  And my heart is a bloom, like the red rose shows
For her hand to gather and toss away,
  Or wear on her breast, as her fancy goes--
But who is the fairest it's hard to say.

Let Laura pass, as a sapling slender,
  Her cheek a berry, her mouth a rose,--
Or Blanche or Helen,--to each I render
  The worship due to the charms she shows:
  But Mary's a poem when these are prose;
Here at her feet my life I lay;
  All of devotion to her it owes--
But who is the fairest it's hard to say.

How _can_ my heart of my hand dispose?
  When Ruth and Clara, and Kate and May,
In form and feature no flaw disclose--
  But who is the fairest it's hard to say.

© Madison Julius Cawein