SONNET
FOR A BIRTHDAY.
I WISH thee sound health and true sanity,
Ripe youth, a summer heart in age’s snow,
Abiding joy in knowledge, wealth enow
That of the best thou ne’er mayst hindered be;
Long life, love, marriage, children, faithful friends,
Purpose in all thy doing, stintless zeal,
Ambition, enthusiasm, the power to feel
Thy country dearer than thy private ends;
The threefold joy of Nature, books, and fun,
To be thy solace in adversity,
To keep thy father’s name as clean as he,
And so transmit it stainless to thy son;
And lastly, crown of glory and of strife,
May honored death give thee Eternal Life.
Now count my wishes, and, the numbering done,
You’ll find the enumeration—twenty-one.