Thread and Song

John Williamson Palmer (1825–1906)

SWEETER and sweeter,

Soft and low,

Neat little nymph,

Thy numbers flow,

Urging thy thimble,

Thrift’s tidy symbol,

Busy and nimble,

To and fro;

Prettily plying

Thread and song,

Keeping them flying

Late and long.

Through the stitch linger,

Kissing thy finger,

Quick,—as it skips along.

Many an echo,

Soft and low,

Follows thy flying

Fancy so,—

Melodies thrilling,

Tenderly filling

Thee with their trilling,

Come and go;

Memory’s finger,

Quick as thine,

Loving to linger

On the line,

Writes of another,

Dearer than brother:

Would that the name were mine!