{
 "id": "john-g-neihardt/to-alice-three-years-old",
 "title": "To Alice, Three Years Old",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John G. Neihardt",
 "poet_slug": "john-g-neihardt",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "A Cycle of the West",
 "book_slug": "a-cycle-of-the-west",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 4,
 "container": "The Song of the Indian Wars",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1925,
  "venue": "The Song of the Indian Wars (1925)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bp_574832"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-g-neihardt_a-cycle-of-the-west",
  "file": "the-song-of-the-indian-wars.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/songthree00neihrich",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000673224",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53667",
   "https://archive.org/details/songofhughglass00neih",
   "https://archive.org/details/bp_574832"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 20,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 35,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "When I began the gift I bear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It seemed you weren’t anywhere;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But being younger now I know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How even fifty moons ago",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The apple bloom began to seek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The proper tinting for a cheek;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The skies, aware of thrilling news,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Displayed the loveliest of blues",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For whoso fashions eyes to choose.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all that prehistoric spring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Experimental grace of wing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tentatively shapen forms,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From crocuses to thunderstorms.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And happy sound and sunny glow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rehearsed you fifty moons ago.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why, even I was toiling too",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon a little gift for youl",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And now that we are wise and three.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I love you and you love me.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We know the whole conspiracy!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}