Select Poetry and riddles

     A. A.

Near to you my sweet friend
How sweet to me would be my fate
If I could always pass my life
Always, yes always near to you.
               E. E. D.B.V.
     

               
Remember me ever
In kindness, I pray!
Forget me, Oh! never,
When far, far away.

     
     A Love Sketch

Speak, Charlie, darling, but one word
Believe my wildly throbbing breast
And looking up, these words I heave
From the lips that scarcely seemed to part.

Oh Nelly! this said he stopped again
I listened and heard but the breeze
I asked once more 'twas not in vain
Said he, I, I, I want to sneeze.

Yes! love attacks both young & old
The wise, the great, the foolish too;
To some great blessings will unfold,
For others he will life renew.

I'd have thee to remember still,
How true my heart will be to thee,
Amid the sunshine, or the storm
Upon the land, or smiling sea;
I'd have thee to remember ever-
My heart once thine, is thine forever!

Roses red,
Violets blue,
Sugar's sweet,
And so are you.

Do you love me? if you do,
Rest assured that I love you.

The hours grow days,
And I am so lonely
I wait and watch,
For the one I love only.

     Farmers in 1776

Man to the plow,
Wife to the cow,
Girl to the yarn,
Boy to the barn,
  And all dues settled.

     Farmers in 1867

Man a mere show,
Girls at piano,
Wife - silk and satin,
Boy - Greek and Latin,
  And all hands gazetted.
  

  
And Oh! how sweet to know
That still, though severed
From thee widely far,
Our minds the selfsame thought
Can fill,
Our eyes yet seek the self-same star.

"Tis sweet to love, and be beloved,
Earth has no greater pleasure,
And if a dear one we have proved,
Then, let us prize the treasure.

     The Voice of Love

Was that the voice of love I heard
Came to me in slumber's hour,
Shedding a perfume round my heart,
Like sweetness from a flower?

Was that the voice of love I heard,
Which thrilled my being through?
Or was it a sweet singing bird,
Amid the ether blue.

Forget not, ah! forget not me
When evening shades descend,
For then my thoughts still cling to thee
My fondly cherished friend.

Fondly I gaze in thy sweet face
And clasp thy little hand in mine
Love speeds us to that place
Where I shall claim my valentine.

The hour is come, the cherished hour
When from the busy world set free
I seek at length my lonely bower
And muse in silent thought on thee.

Fairest and dearest I see thee now
I love to gaze in those dreamy eyes
With the light of loveliness on thy brow
Where a gushing fount of affection lies.

Be thy name most kindly spoken
May thy faith remain unbroken
Be thy heart the home of pleasure
Bright with sunshine without measure
Be thy pathway strewn with roses
Fair as those which June discloses
Be thy spirit's eye unshrouded
And its atmosphere unclouded
Be thy peace unbroken never
Be thy home in heaven forever.
           E. E. D.

Among the silver-tassled corn
My lover whispered yester-morn
Thou art so like the flowers, my fair,
The wanton bees, deluded, seek
The wild-rose of the lips and cheek
The gold upon thy braided hair.

     A Cool Reply            

I pressed her gentle form to me
And whispered in her ear
If when I was far away
She'd drop for me a tear.
I paused for some gentle word
My throbbing heart to cool
And with her rosy lips she said
O Ike, you're such a fool!

The kiss is beaming on my lips
The last, my love, you gave me,
And dying thus, the doctors say
Another kiss might save me.

What is love, that all the world talks so much about it.
What is love, that neither you nor I can do without it.
What is love, that it should be as changeful as the weather.
Is it joy, or is it sorrow.
Or is it both together.

Love's a tyrant and a slave, a torment and a pleasure,
having it we know no peace, wanting it no pleasure.
Would we shun it if we could? In sooth, I almost doubt it.
Faith, I'd rather bear its sting, than live my life without it.
             L. E. D.

It is a world of human hearts.
And what a world there is in every heart.

How many meet, who
never yet have met.
To part too soon, but
never to forget.
     Lizzie E. DeBeVoise

And on her Lover's arm she leant.
And round her waist she felt it fold.
And far across the hills they went.
To that new world which is the old.
      L. E. D.

   Call Me Thine Own

Call me thine own, Dearest.
Call me thine own.
Whisper it softly,
In love's gentlest tones.
Murmer it over,
In silence of night;
Tenderly breath it,
In morn's rosy light.
Nought in the wide world
can soothe like thy tone.
Call me thine own, Dearest
Call me thine own.

  2nd Verse
Call me thine own, Darling.
Dearer to me are such
Words than bright pearls
From the depth of the sea.
Like nectar the sweetest
Oft tasted before.
My soul drinks them in
And keeps thirsting for more.
Oh! the purest of bliss
My fond heart e'er hath known.
Has been born of this thought.
Thou hast called me Thine Own.

   3rd Verse
Then call me thine own, Love
Emboldened with thy breath.
These accents will linger.
To cheer me till death.
Whether severed by fate
From the dearest and best.
Or in rapture untold,
I recline on thy breast.
Still, Still, round my path.
Let this blessing be strewn,
That thou hast, dost, and wilt
Call me Thine Own.
    L. E. D.B.

True love can ne'er forget
Fondly as when we met
Dearest, I love thee yet.
My only one.
   Cupid.

May you be happy
And live at your case
And have a good husband
To kiss when you please
And sit on his knees.

   Happy as Two Could be

The sun went down in the western sky.
The tide flowed out to the sea.
And Abie and I sat side by side,
As happy as two could be.

Our boat went floating down the stream
The lark flew swiftly by
And we were happy as two could be,
My light-haired Abie & I.

Our eyes spoke more than our lips that day.
A word expressed by a sigh.
We told each other our love that day
My peerless Abie & I.

Yes, as the sun went down in the west.
The tide flowed out to the sea.
My head was nestled upon his breast.
And I knew that he loved me.

     Love Revealed

Such a trite and graceless sinner,
You would wonder I could win her.
She as white as purest snow.
From her lot of ill defend her.
For she loves me true and tender,
Her warm blushes told me so.

Heavy clouds may gather o'er me,
And the way look dark before me.
As it oft times will below
I will pass it all unheeding
For she loves me at my pleading.
Her clear eyes have told me so.

Then o'er changeless seas a sailing.
With our hope and faith unfailing.
In the sunshine we will go.
All in all, and never parted,
For she loves me the true-hearted,
Her dear lips have told me so.
     Anon.

     True Love
                                                         

True love is like the oak tree
Which wind nor storm can break;
True love is like the mountain
Which is never known to shake;
True love is like the ocean
As boundless and as deep
True love will last a lifetime
Till in death we calmly sleep.
      A.

     The Wife
     

Oh, cherish her dearly,
And love her sincerely,
Be faithful, indulgent & kind,
Make not a slight failing
A pretext for railing,
If such you should happen to find.

Oh, do not misuse her,
And never refuse her,
When proper her wishes may be,
And the cost, care & trouble,
Shall recompense double,
By the kindness she will lavish on you.
           Lizzie E. D.B.
           

           
     Love

Mightier far than strength of nerve or sinew,
or the sway of magic potent over sun & star,
Is love, though oft to agony distrest,
And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast.
      Wordsworth

O! Love is bliss itself alone,
Love deep and high like mine,
And I am blest to feel my own
The memories of thine.

To Elizabeth E. DeBevoise from John T. Suydam

Remember me I pray but not,
In Flora's gay and charming hour,
When every brake hath found its note,
And sunshine smiles in every flower,
And where the Autumn leaf is sere,
And within sadly from the tree,
Cold Autumn weeps, remember me.
To Lizzie   December 10th 1874   Jno. T. Suydam