Shapes and Shadows — A Southern Girl

A SOUTHERN GIRL.

Serious but smiling, stately and serene, And dreamier than a flower;

A girl in whom all sympathies convene As perfumes in a bower;

Through whom one feels what soul and heart may mean, And their resistless power.

Eyes, that commune with the frank skies of truth, Where thought like starlight curls;

Lips of immortal rose, where love and youth Nestle like two sweet pearls;

Hair, that suggests the Bible braids of RUTH, Deeper than any girl's. When first I saw you, 't was as if within My soul took shape some song-- Played by a master of the violin-- A music pure and strong, That rapt my soul above all earthly sin To heights that know no wrong.