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X THE GIFT OF
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TO
REBECCA, Gi?CW/AK7 OP
Z?2/ Fannie Stearns Gifford
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PUBLISHED IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NOVEMBER, 1^22
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TO REBECCA, GROWING UP
By Fannie Stearns Gifford
Light in your eyes says, 'Years! Years!'
There grows more reason in your tears•
There grows more pity in your smile;
Dreams beset you, and beguile.
The round clear baby-cheek seems thin,
Though still it holds the dimples in.
Your lashes droop. Sometimes you look
A changeling from a fairy-book.
Then you were mine—all mine. Ah, yes!
But only mine from helplessness.
Now you outrun me. Dream for dream,
You match me. Challenges that gleam
Like little swords dance through our days.
—Oh, what am I to blame or praise ?
To trust you is a thing more rare
Than that old speechless darling care.
And can you trust me—you, who run
So soon beyond my steadfast sun ?
And can you trust me—you, who go
So soon a road I cannot know?
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Two hundred copies of this book privately printed for their friends,
Christmas, Nineteen Hundred Twenty-three.
Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Main
WITH THE KIND CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR AND THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
Sll. 5
Gri-S'?