These two verses were originally published in either the May or June 1867 issue of Godey's (the book is falling apart so the pages are jumbled together). The verses were translated into English from Italian and French, respectively. I am not quite sure if the translations were accurate as the poems seem to be missing something?
The Italian verse reads:
With joyful notes birds greet the spring,
And fairest flowers their odors fling;
But wicked love pretends to sigh
'Cause the fair things so soon must die.
Poor child! cries spring, thy happiest hours―
Will they last longer than my flowers?
The French verse is called
"With a Lock of Gray Hair" and goes like this:
Despise it not because 'tis gray,
Nor cast the gift with scorn away.
It tells of love as warm and true
As ever youthful bosom knew;
But, purer far than love of youth,
It needs no blush to own its truth,
Nor faltering tongue a love to tell,
Such as might angels' bosoms swell.
You can download the verses on the original book paper as a
free high-res JPEG without a watermark
here. Lovely as a a vintage scrap to embellish a card, collage, junk journal or scrapbook page.
Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a
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