Madison Julius Cawein

A Southern Girl

    Serious but smiling, stately and serene,
     And dreamier than a flower;
    A girl in whom all sympathies convene
     As perfumes in a bower;
    Through whom one feels what soul and heart may mean,
     And their resistless power.

    Eyes, that commune with the frank skies of truth,
     Where thought like starlight curls;
    Lips of immortal rose, where love and youth
     Nestle like two sweet pearls;
    Hair, that suggests the Bible braids of RUTH,
     Deeper than any girl's.

    When first I saw you, 't was as if within
     My soul took shape some song -
    Played by a master of the violin -
     A music pure and strong,
    That rapt my soul above all earthly sin
     To heights that know no wrong.