Grandma's Young Days

Grandma's Young Days

Once Grandma was a young lady, she says.
It's hard to believe, but it's true.
She showed me a gown she used to wear then,
All soft, and all lace-y and blue.

She showed me the fan she carried, which she
Coquettishly swung to and fro.
I'd like to have seen her smiles and her frowns
At Grandpa, who then was her beau.

She showed me her slippers, spangly and white.
(So tiny and cute were her feet.)
I'd like to have seen her glide through a dance.
Her steps so precise and so neat.

She showed me the ring Grandpa gave to her
One evening of love and of bliss.
I'd like to have seen her young lover plant
On her brow his chaste, proper kiss.

She showed me the locket which she used to wear.
His picture and hers, both inside.
Were taken, she says, upon the glad day
She became my Grandpa's young bride.

Oh, Grandma! you then were so sweet and so fair
Of lip, and of cheek and of brow.
I'd like to have seen you, far different then,
But not a bit sweeter than now!