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Dear Lizbie Browne,
Where are you now?
In sun,in rain?--
Or is your brow
Past joy,past pain,
Dear Lizbie Browne?
Sweet LizbieBrowne,
How you could smile,
How you could sing!--
How archly wile
In glance giving,
Sweet Lizbie Browne!
And Lizbie Browne,
Who else had hair
Bay red as yours,
Or flesh so fair
Bred out of doors,
Sweet Lizbie Browne?
When Lizbie Browne,
You had just begun
To be endeared
By stealth to one,
You disappeared
My Lizbie Browne!
Ay, Lizbie Browne
So swift your life
And mine so slow,
You were a wife
Ere i could show
Love,Lizbie Browne.
Still,Lizbie Browne,
You won,they said,
The best of men
When you were wed...
Where went you then,
O Lizbie Browne?
Dear Lizbie Browne,
I should have thought,
" Girls ripen fast,"
And coaxed and caught
you ere you passed,
Dear Lizbie Browne!
But,Lizbie Browne,
I let you slip;
Shaped not a sign'
Touched never your lip
With lip of mine,
Lost Lizbie Browne!
So, Lizbie Browne,
When on a day
Men speak of me
As not,you'll say,
"And who was he?"--
Yes, Lizbie Browne!
My favourite Prayer
Lord, Keep me from the habit of
thinking I must say something on every occasion.
Release me from craving out everybody's affairs.
Keep my mind free from the
recital of the endless details-give me the wings to get to the point.
I ask for grace enough to listen to tales of others' pains. Help me to endure them with patience. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains- they are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.
Teach me the glorious lesson
that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet ; I do
not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to livr with but a sour old
person is one of the crowning works of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And, give me , O Lord, the grace to tell them so.
Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all - but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.