Page:Poems Crandall.djvu/55

Thus begins our trials
  Ere we learn to talk;
Weaned at every turning,
  Down life's crooked walk.

We are weaned from mother;
  Soon when older grown,
Cares and duties call us,
  Wean us from our home.

Then within some other,
  By small hands caressed,
With a cheek of velvet
  To the shoulder pressed.

But we cannot keep it,
  'Tis not nature's way;
Tho' we miss the burden
  Soon 'twill grow away.

Evening shadows falling,
  Make the lesson clear;
Weaned from every treasure
  Human hearts hold dear.

Till eternal glory—
  All our struggles past—
Breaks upon our our vision—
  Weaned from earth at last.

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