Classic Poem

Soft and supple, slight and slender,
Sliding leisurely through life;
Trim and toylike in her splendour—
She is one sort of a wife!

Pretty, and precise, and piquante—
Faultless manner, faultless mien—
Most can worship her; but we can't:
We adore a statelier queen.

One whose brain, robust and healthy,
Holds within its graceful girth
Something richer than the wealthy,
Something more divine than birth:

Holds a spirit alive with vigour,
Active and alert as flame;
Strong, heroic, like her figure,
Firmly moulded, like her frame;

One whose stout heart clings for ever
To the husband of her youth;
Helping him in all endeavour
After knowledge, after truth;

In distress, in toil, in sorrow,
Prompt and fearless, true and tried:
Yesterday, to-day, to-morrow,
She is always at his side.

Not to her are given by measure
Gifts and glory from above;
Not to him is any treasure
Half so precious as her love.