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ALMOST FOUR She said: "I'm almost four years old!" And all the West was changing gold, Where the last banners of the sun Told that another day was done; And then she sat and looked away, And there was not a word to say; I know she looked along life's track, But I-I sat there looking back.
And both of us were just as still- Somewhere a field lark whistled shrill, As is a field lark's happy way Of speeding a departing day; As the last sun-rays touch his wings He lifts his glad voice up and sings, Songs of a sweetness never told- And she was "almost four years old!"
She gave me her two hands to hold, This lassie "almost four years old," ( The evening air was getting chill ) And then we talked, as people will, Of lights that blinked across the night, Of cottage windows all alight, Of little children, like my own, Behind the lights that blinked and shone.
And, as I covered her wee hands, We talked of far-off fairy lands; Of fairy queens, and fairies' ways, Of fairy nights, and fairy days, Of fairies who had golden heads, Of fairy homes, and fairy beds ; And she knew all the fairy lore That I had known in days of yore.
The fairy queens were "just so tall," And fairy beds were "just so small;" She "could not Bleep in such abed! " She knew she couldn't, "Tause my's head Would stick out of it, an' my's foots! You reckon fairies' mammas puts Them in their beds when they're asleep, An' prays the Lord their souls to keep?"
"I know one fairy," I replied, (At that her eyes snapped open wide) With eyes of blue, and locks of gold, And who is 'almost four years old'-" At that she gave a shout of glee And clapped her hands. "I bet it's me!" Then her wee eyelids fluttered down, And she was off for Fairy Town.
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