Classic Poem

Tell me, Miss Dimple,
Rosebud and buttercup,
Will you be as charming
When you grow up?
Will your hair keep its yellow,
Your lips keep their curl?
Will you always, as now, be
My own little girl?

Or will you grow up to be
" Grandmamma Dimple, " —
A dear little grandmamma,
Wearing a wimple,
Through spectacles peering
And snipping out follies —
Red ribbons and sashes
For grandmamma's dollies?

Some sunshine, some shadow,
Occasional showers,
But never quite clouded,
This friendship of ours;
Just one little jangle —
I remember, don't you?
When Gwendolen's tresses
Got tangled with glue.

Ah, that was a morning!
How all were appalled,
When a sudden disaster
Snatched Gwendolen bald!
I ran with my glue-pot,
But the brush was too big
For a toilet so dainty,
And we dabbled the wig.

Now, sweetheart, you promise
To live with us two,
But greatly I fear me —
Yes, Dimple, I do —
Some voice you 'll find sweeter
Than that of mamma,
Some one you 'll love dearer
Than your own dear papa.

But tell me, Miss Dimple,
Will any young sprig
Love you just as papa does,
When you grow to be big?
Will he fly to aid you
With comfort and glue,
When you find your doll's hollow,
And the sawdust sifts through?

Will he guide your footsteps
Lest they falter and fall —
Your tumbles, your troubles,
Will he share them all?
And when others don't know
Why the little girl cries,
Will he read the reason
Writ in your blue eyes?

As has been will be ever,
The world holds its way;
The old have their years,
And the young have their day.
But I 'm jealous this moment —
Of whom, do you guess?
Of that rival's arrival
In ten years — or less!

And though seeming submissive
While my little girl grows,
If I were a wizard,
And my wand were this rose,
Once, twice, I would wave it —
Yes, a third time — and say:
" Let my daughter be ever
The Dot of to-day! "