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.