An Uncle's Surmise

" Landor now hang me but I think
You are in love with Rose, Don't blink
The question''

My good Admiral,
Would you that I alone of all
Who see and hear her should not prove
(As suits their age and station) love ?
But who can leap the gulph between
Dark fifty-nine and bright sixteen?
Let us both try which loves her most,
I shall be happy to have lost.

I wonder what the wise would say
If they could only see me play
With little children half the day.

The tiniest hand can soonest heal
With its soft pulp the wounds we feel
From sharper strokes than struck with steel,
And is best able to repair
The crevice on the brow of Care,