The Young Widow
Source of witness transcribed: Southern Sentinel (Plaquemine, Louisiana)
Date of witness transcribed: 1 August 1857
Notes about this poem: "The Young Widow" was printed in at least 200 newspapers during the nineteenth century. It can be found using ID 18034 in this table of most widely-reprinted poems.
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- She is modest, but not bashful,
- Free and easy, but not bold,
- Like an apple, ripe and mellow,
- Not too young and not too old;
- Half inviting half repulsive,
- Now advancing, and now shy;
- There is mischief in her dimple,
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There is danger in her eye.
- She has studied human nature;
- She is schooled in all its arts;
- She has taken her diploma,
- As the mistress of all hearts.
- She can tell the very moment
- When to sigh and when to smile;
- O, a maid is sometimes charming,
-
But a window, all the while!
- Are you sad? how very serious
- Will her handsome face become;
- Are you angry? she is wretched,
- Lonely, friendless, tearful, dumb;
- Are you mirthful? how her laughter,
- Silver-sounding, will ring out,
- She can lure, and catch, and play you
-
As the angler does the trout.
- Ye old bachelors of forty,
- Who have grown so bold and wise;
- Young Americans of twenty,
- With the love-locks in your eyes;
- You may practise all the lessons
- Taught by Cupid since the fall,
- But I know a little widow,
- Who could win and fool you all!
JACKSON, Miss., May 1st, 1857.