THE NURSE
She is as pretty and as brown
As the wood's children far from town,
As bright-eyed, glancing, shy of men
As any squirrel, any wren.
As the wood's children far from town,
As bright-eyed, glancing, shy of men
As any squirrel, any wren.
Tender she is to beast and bird,
As in her breast some memory stirred
Of days when those were kin of hers
Who go in feathers and in furs.
As in her breast some memory stirred
Of days when those were kin of hers
Who go in feathers and in furs.
A child, yet is the children's law,
And rules by love and rules by awe.
And, stern at times, is kind withal
As a girl-baby with her doll.
And rules by love and rules by awe.
And, stern at times, is kind withal
As a girl-baby with her doll.
Outside the nursery door there lies
The world with all its griefs and sighs,
Its needs, its sins, its stains of sense:
Within is only innocence.
The world with all its griefs and sighs,
Its needs, its sins, its stains of sense:
Within is only innocence.
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