WHEN MAGGIE CROSSED THE BROOK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 71

WHEN MAGGIE CROSSED THE BROOK.

A moment on the bank to view The tide with timid air. And in she tripped with kirtle blue Above her white feet bare. So fair a sight it never knew, That shy and lilied nook; Nor I, amid the willows hid, When Maggie crossed the brook. The glistening water, loth to go, Encircled rock and fern; It eddied in its silver flow With many a twist and turn. The old mill waited far below, The stream the call forsook, And hushed its trill and tarried till Sweet Maggie crossed the brook. The sun slipped through the willow leaves And. fell upon h.©r aair ; Hid locks the hue- of autumn sheaves, It wove a witching snare. Too late my beating heaTt perceives The peril of a look; The spell was wrought, my heart was caught, As Maggie crossed the brook. The sang their lay Higher up the bill; But. down beside the brook that day The air was soft and still. I wish the scene might live for aye, Like- pictures in a book; But fairest things have fleetest wings, And Maggie crossed the brook. Too coon beyond the narrow tide A grateful sigh she drew, And in the daisies at her side T knelt to tie her shoe; She mocked my clumsiness; I tried, But how my fingers shook! Ail skill forgot, love tied the knot, "When Maggie crossed the brook. — Shamrock. Pyramid, January, 1908.