Emma

For Pauline...

E'en as the ray that decks the lucid tear,

Which, in the summer's morn, bedews each tree;

My little girl -- as sweet, as mild, as dear --

The smiles of innocence we owe to thee:

May they adorn thee when thy childhood's past --

Thy loving parents pride and hope, to see,

And that those smiles we gaze on then may last,

Are all, sweet little one, we wish for thee.

Text: The Dublin Penny Journal 28 Feb 1835.
Image: Angel painting by Joyce Birkenstock.