Day Dreams

I measured myself by the wall in the garden;
The hollyhocks blossomed far over my head.
"Oh, when I can touch with the tips of my fingers
The highest green bud, with its lining of red,

"I shall not be a child anymore, but a woman.
Dear hollyhock blossoms, how glad I shall be!
I wish they would hurry--the years that are coming--
And bring the bright days that I dream of to me!

"Oh, when I am grown, I shall know all my lessons;
There's so much to learn when one's only just ten!
I shall be very rich, very handsome, and stately,
And good, too, of course--t'will be easier then!

"There'll be many to love me, and nothing to vex me,
No knots in my sewing, no crusts to my bread.
My days will go by like the days in a story,
The sweetest and gladdest that ever was read.

"And then I shall come out some day to the garden
(For this little corner must always be mine);
I shall wear a white gown, all embroidered with silver,
That trials in the grass with a rustle and shine.

"And, meeting some child here at play in the sunshine,
With gracious hands laid on her head, I shall say,
'I measured myself by these hollyhock blossoms
Where I was no taller than you, dear, one day!'

"She will smile in my face as I stoop low to kiss her,
And--Hark! they are calling me in to my tea!
O blossoms, I wish that the slow years would hurry!
When, when will they bring all I dream of to me?"

~ Margaret Johnson