Margaret.

I saw her for a moment,
    Her presence haunts me yet,
In oft-recurring visions
    Of grace and gladness met
That marked the sweet demeanor
    Of dainty Margaret.

Like gossamer her robe was
    Around her lightly drawn,
A filmy summer-garment
    That fairy maidens don
To make them look like angels
    Croqueting on the lawn.

The mallet-sport became her
    In hue of exercise
That tinged her cheek with roses;
    And, dancing in her eyes,
Were pantomime suggestions
    Of having won - a prize.

No more to me a stranger
    Is she who occupies
A place in all my musings;
    And brings in tender guise
A thought of one so like her -
    Long years in Paradise.

Dear Margaret! that "pearl-name"
    Is thine - and may it be
The synonym of goodness,
    Of truth and purity,
And all ennobling graces
    Exemplified in thee.