Bonny Bessie

I love Bessie & she loves me:
Darling Bessie who lives by the sea,
Sweet & lonely as lass can be;
    White & rosy with eyes of blue,
    Luminous eyes, like globes of dew
    You see the morning firmament through
Light & grace in her motions free,
Sweetest Lady of all I see,
For I love Bessie & she loves me!

Some have houses & some have stocks,
And some have treasure in reined rook,
And some heap gold in an iron box.
    Cattle & horses & sheep have none;
    For another his great ships got come,
    And a hundred mills for his brother hum
But I, who have only an eye to see
And a heart to bless her, can happier be,
For I love Bessie & she loves me.

One flaunts a title before his name,
And one behind his, both for the same –
Baggage checked to the nation of Fame –
    Office & honors, ribbons & fees,
    Some for those, & others for these,
    Wrestle, & run in the mire to their knees;
But I, with only a name that she
Makes musical, can happier be,
For I love Bessie & she loves me.

My Lady is eight years old today,
A stave of music that danced away
In a fairy’s form, a morning ray
    Involved in vapors of misty pearl,
    That flushed & throbbed in a dainty whirl,
    Till it stepped to earth, a living girl –
With the sun-steeped mist, yet rippling free,
For her golden hair! – my bliss to be,
For I love Bessie & she loves me.

I see by the glass that time has tossed
Over my locks his powdery frost, –
But whoot, Old Man! your labor is lost!
    For every day you lessen the way
    Between me & my delicate Fay,
    My bonny, bounding Bessie Grey,
Years may whiten what white may be.
But the heart she lightens is young as she,
For I love Bessie & she loves me.