Aaron Belford Thompson, "The Lock of Hair" (1899)
I have in my casket a jewel,
More precious, than rubies or pearl;
'Tis only a little blue ribbon,
United, and wove with a curl.
'Tis the curl of an Ethiope damsel,
Tinted with deep midnight hue;
A gloss adds fourfold to its beauty,
With a glittering sparkle like dew.
Her tiny black hands plucked this treasure,
From the mass of jet curls on her head,
And they wove in the little blue ribbon;
As a token of fondness, she said.
Her sweet smiles, they haunt me forever,
That curl, and the ribbon of blue,
They ne'er from my casket shall sever;
For I hold them as tokens most true.
Published in Morning Songs, 1899