A Familiar Face

 

O for a familiar face,

To see the child outgrow the man!

"shun him," they cry, "that man from jail:

shun him, that slave to Bacchus ale;

shun him, who swears for all he can."

Nay, what care I for that? I trace

My way through him not as one who spent

Part of his life in jail; he went

To the same school with me a boy,

Which fills my heart with a sweet content.

 

A thousand times I've set my mind

Sternly' gainst Bacchusn and his race;

I've seen with pity men go mad,

And women going to the bad;

But chance hath brought my way a face

Which shows the boy I love behind.

"Say, how is little Jane, who went

to school between us two?" "Oh, she

is well; and babies2- "Babies!"- Three."

And in the name of wonderment,

Bacchus hath ta'en a hold on me.