Retrospect

'TWAS just this time last year I died.

      I know I heard the corn,

When I was carried by the farms,—

      It had the tassels on.

I thought how yellow it would look

      When Richard went to mill;

And then I wanted to get out,

      But something held my will.

I thought just how red apples wedged

      The stubble's joints between;

And carts went stooping round the fields

      To take the pumpkins in.

I wondered which would miss me least,

      And when Thanksgiving came,

If father'd multiply the plates

      To make an even sum.

And if my stocking hung too high,

      Would it blur the Christmas glee,

That not a Santa Claus could reach

      The altitude of me?

But this sort grieved myself, and so

      I thought how it would be

When just this time, some perfect year,

      Themselves should come to me.