One day a little tot with laughing eyes so bright,
Looked in my face and grasped my hand with tiny fingers tight,
I held her close, I kissed her lips, and whispered in her ear,
I love you sweet and want to keep you always, you’re so dear.

She grew each day a joy to me, a lonely heart to fill,
A bright and saucy child was she, with loving stubborn will,
The years have passed, the happy years filled high with joy and peace,
I would that I might hold them still that they might never cease.

We walked the narrow roads of woe, my babe and I together,
We walked the wide, wide sunny lanes in fairest, brighter weather,
Today marks still another year, a lovely girl is she,
And I am young because her youth and love abide with me.

I look back o’er the fleeting years that she was mine,
I look back with a yearning hear, how cruel is time.
May other years that come to her, bring only joy and plenty,
My little babe of yesterday, is now a girl of twenty.

Katherine Carey-Place 1878-1934
March 14, 1927
Written for her niece Grace Edmonds

Copyright Roy Richard