“For one little kiss on your lips, sweet elm, For one little kiss, no more, I would give you, I swear, a robe more fair Than ever a princess wore. One little kiss on those lips, my pet, And lo! you shall stand, I say, Queen of the forest, and, better yet, Queen of my heart alway.” She tossed her head, but he took the kiss-- ’Tis the way of lovers bold-- And a gorgeous dress for that sweet caress He gave ere the morning was old. For a week and a day she ruled a queen In beauty and splendid attire; For a week and a day she was loved, I ween, With the love that is born of desire. Then bold-eyed Autumn went on his way In search of a tree more fair; And mob winds tattered her garments and scattered Her finery here and there. Poor and faded and ragged and cold She rocked in her wild distress, And longed for the dull green gown she had sold For her fickle lover’s caress. And the days went by and Winter came, And his tyrannous tempests beat On the shivering tree, whose robes of flame He had trampled under his feet. I saw her reach up to the mocking skies Her poor arms, bare and thin; Ah, well-a-day! it is ever the way With a woman who trades with sin. ROBIN’S MISTAKE. What do you think Red Robin Found by a mow of hay? Why, a flask brimful of liquor, That the mowers brought that day To slake their thirst in the hayfield. And Robin he shook his head: “Now, I wonder what they call it, And how it tastes?” he said. “I have seen the mowers drink it-- Why isn’t it good for me? So I’ll just draw out the stopper And get at the stuff, and see!” But alas! for the curious Robin, One draught, and he burned his throat From his bill to his poor crop’s lining, And he could not utter a note. And his head grew light and dizzy, And he staggered left and right, Tipped over the flask of brandy, And spilled it, every mite. But after awhile he sobered, And quietly flew away, And he never has tasted liquor, Or touched it, since that day. But I heard him say to his kindred, In the course of a friendly chat, “These men think they are above us, Yet they drink such stuff as that! Oh, the poor degraded creatures! I am glad I am only a bird!” Then he flew up over the meadow, And that was all I heard. NEW YEAR RESOLVE. As the dead year is clasped by a dead December, So let your dead sins with your dead days lie. A new life is yours and a new hope. Remember We build our own ladders to climb to the sky. Stand out in the sunlight of promise, forgetting Whatever the past held of sorrow and wrong. We waste half our strength in a useless regretting; We sit by old tombs in the dark too long.