A SOUTHERN GIRL.

By Madison Julius Cawein

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.