Love Sonnets of an Office Boy (Sonnet 18)

XVIII

I'D like to have a lock of her brown hair,

For that would be a part of her, you know;

And if she'd tie it with a little bow

Of ribbon, then I'd fasten it somewhere

Clear down inside, next to my heart, to wear,

And fix it over every week or so,

When I changed undershirts, or maw she'd go

And raise a fuss because she found it there.

One day when bizness wasn't on the boom

She trimmed her finger-nails, and one piece flew

To where I was, almost acrost the room;

I watched the spot where it went tumblin' to,

And now a piece of her is mine; it come

Right from the end of her dear little thumb.