~The Old-Fashioned Pair~

"Tis a little old house with a squeak in the stairs,
And a porch that seems made for just two easy chairs;
In the yard is a group of geraniums red,
And a glorious old-fashioned peony bed.
Petunias, pansies and larkspurs are there
Proclaiming their love for the old-fashioned pair

Oh, it's hard now to picture the peace of the place!
Never a lovelier smile lit a fair woman's face
Than a smile of the little old lady who sits
On the porch through the bright days of summer and knits.
And a courtlier manner no prince ever had
Than the little old man that she speaks of as "dad."

In that little old house there is nothing of hate;
There are old-fashioned things by an old-fashoioned grate;
On the walls there are pictures of fine looking men
And beautiful ladies to look at and then
Time has placed on the mantel to comfort them there
The pictures of grandchildren, raidantly fair.

Every part of the house seems to whisper of joy,
Save the trinkets that speak of a little lost boy.
Yet Time has long since soothed the hurt and the pain,
And his glorious memories only remain;
The laughter of children the old walls have known,
And the joy of it stays, though the babies have flown.

I am fond of that house and that old-fashioned pair
And the glorious calm that is hovering there,
The riches of life are not silver and gold
But fine sons and daughters when we have grown old,
And I pray when the years shall have silvered our hair
We shall know the delights of that old-fashioned pair.

~Edgar A. Guest~