Hannah Flagg Gould

Written in an Album

     Thou tiny leaf,
Thou art so small, so very small,
     I must be brief,
If I would sully thee at all,
With aught that from my pen may fall!

     Then haste from me;
Go quick to Caroline, and show
     My wish, that she
O'er no rude spot of earth, may go,
Small as thyself, where thorns shall grow;—

     That there may be
No cloud so broad in all her sky
     'T would shadow thee;
Nor pain nor sorrow e'er come nigh
To blanch her cheek, or dim her eye:—

     That I may claim
What she on memory may bestow
     In friendship's name—
A smile, or tear, as joy or wo
Shall mark the path where I may go!