Two Portraits.
They smile from no silv’ry, fretted frame,1
In the scented dusk of a lady’s room ;2
They are hidden away, where none can claim,3
And time does not tarnish their life-long bloom.4
A face laughs out ’neath the lilac leaves ;5
Blue eyes are beaming with great goodwill.6
Oh ! Cupid sows in the springtide eves—7
A girl’s heart took it, and keeps it still.8
The other speaks of the end of all,9
Of wind and wave on a lonely beach,10
The withered leaf, the unanswered call ;11
But the same man’s face looks out of each.12
The years may linger or haste away,13
Dear scenes be altered, and voices strange ;14
But the old-time portraits know no decay,15
They do not fade and they cannot change ;16
They smile from no girdle of leafy bloom,17
No album holds them in dainty grace18
In the scented dusk of a lady’s room :19
Her inmost heart is their resting-place.20