Love-lighted eyes, that will not start
At frown of rage or malice!
Uplifted brow, undaunted heart
Ready to dine on raspberry-tart
Along with fairy Alice!
In scenes as wonderful as if
She’d flitted in a magic skiff
Across the sea to Calais:
Be sure this night, in Fancy’s feast,
Even till Morning gilds the east,
Laura will dream of Alice!
Perchance, as long years onward haste,
Laura will weary of the taste
Of Life’s embittered chalice:
May she, in such a woeful hour,
Endued with Memory’s mystic power,
Recall the dreams of Alice!
June 17, 1876.