Unfading Pictures by Louella C. Poole. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1922. Anthology of Massachusetts Poets

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William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Massachusetts Poets. 1922.

Unfading Pictures

Louella C. Poole

(“The air from the sea came blowing in again, mixed with the perfume of the flowers…. The old-fashioned furniture brightly rubbed and polished, my aunt’s inviolable chair and table by the round green fan in the bow-window, the drugget-covered carpet, the cat, the kettle-holder, the two canaries, the old china … and, wonderfully out of keeping with the rest, my dusty self upon the sofa, taking note of everything.”–“David Copperfield,” Chapter XIII.)


HOW many are the scenes he limned,
With artist strokes, clear-cut and free—
Our Dickens; time shall not efface
Their charm, and they will ever grace
The halls of memory.	5

Oft and again we turn to them,
To contemplate in pleased review;
And like some picture on the screen
Comes now to mind a favorite scene
His master-pencil drew:—	10

Upon a sofa, stretched in sleep,
I see a small lad, spent and worn,
And by the window, stern and grim,
A silent figure watching him,
So dusty, ragged, torn.	15

Ah, now she rises from behind
The round green fan beside her chair;
“Poor fellow!” croons—and pity lends
Her voice new softness—and she bends
And brushes back his hair.	20

Then in his sleep he softly stirs.
Was that a dream, these murmured words?
He wakes! There by the casement sat
Miss Trotwood still; close by, her cat
And her canary birds.	25

The peaceful calm of that quaint room,
Its marks of comfort everywhere—
Old china and mahogany
And blowing in, fresh from the sea,
The perfume-laden air.	30

Poor little pilgrim so bereft,
So weary at his journey’s end!
What joy must then have filled his soul
To reach at last such happy goal—
To find—oh, such a friend!…	35

And then night came, and from his bed
He saw the sea, moonlit and bright,
And dreamed there came, to bless her son,
His mother, with her little one,
Adown that path of light.	40

Ah, greater blessing I’d not crave,
When my life’s pilgrimage is o’er,
Than such repose, content, and love;
Some shining path that leads above
To dear ones gone before!	45

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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