Little Kate.

Beside me, in the golden light     That slants upon the floor,     She twines the many-colored silks     Her dimpled fingers o'er;     Uplifting now and then her eye,     Or praise or blame in mine to spy.     For her sweet sake I've cast aside     The books I've loved so well,     And given up my being to     Affection's mighty spell;     Ambition's visions vanish all,     Before the music of her call.     The fancy of the past, that lent     To jewels bright and rare     Ascendency at every birth     In this our planet's air,     Hath to October's children given     The opal with its hues of Heaven.     The golden sunlight in the sky,     The red leaf on the plain;     Beneath the opal's changeful light     Hope and Misfortune reign;     And mid gay leaves of wondrous dyes,     My darling first unclosed her eyes.     I cannot in the future look     The augury to prove,     But earthly joys and earthly woes     Must human spirits move;     And she, like all, must strive with care,     Disasters meet, and suffering bear.     But I will teach her hopefully     To meet what Fate betides,     To live and labor earnestly,     In narrow path or wide;     And, with salt tears on paling cheek,     A benediction still to speak.     And if in some sweet inner sphere,     Some home of love apart,     An angel's duty she fulfil     With but a woman's heart,     Haply the red leaf, in its advent, may     Find Hope o'er sorrow dominant for aye.