VIII. To Minnie. Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1913. A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods

Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894). A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913.

VIII. To Minnie (With a hand-glass)

A PICTURE-FRAME for you to fill,
A paltry setting for your face,
A thing that has no worth until
You lend it something of your grace,

I send (unhappy I that sing	5
Laid by awhile upon the shelf)
Because I would not send a thing
Less charming than you are yourself.

And happier than I, alas!
(Dumb thing, I envy its delight)	10
’T will wish you well, the looking-glass,
And look you in the face to-night.