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.