Unidentified photographer / artist
n.d.
On Receiving the Carte-De-Visite of a Friend

Book page, poem
Google Books
Published in "Poems" by Maria Theresa Rice, Privately printed at trhe Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1869, p.157-158
 
IT is perfect, every line,
The form, the dress, the features too;
It seems, beloved, to me divine
This picture which the sunlight drew;
The attitude so full of grace,
The dauntless military air,
The bold, serene, expressive face;
The godlike only such can wear.
 
If but the muses now would come,
With all their gifts my soul imbue,
I'd take my lyre and shrine in song,
Or shadow forth thine image too;
Thy tenderness, thy power, combined
Is visible in every shade;
The radiance, the undefined,
E'en inspiration must evade.
 
Of life so full, a thing of art
It hardly seems while I behold;
To me it ever will impart
A mystic influence untold;
And were my admiration less,
Aye, less sincere than it is now,
I could not all my joy suppress
While gazing on thy form and brow.
 
A deeper charm surrounding all,
Surpassing yet the painter's art;
Henceforth an idol, to recall
The pure emotions of my heart;
A thousand thanks for this, kind friend;
My album now the gem shall grace;
A hero crowned, if such should send,
I'd not remove to give it place.
 
An inscribed copy of this book dedicated to J.J. Hawes is held by Harvard College Library and was bequested by Edward Southworth Hawes, Class of 1880, in 1943.
 
LL/34447