TO R———
"If, in this world of breathing harm,
There lurk one universal charm,
'Tis the pure kiss of infant love."
There lurk one universal charm,
'Tis the pure kiss of infant love."
I gaze on thee, my own fair child,
With thy graceful form and actions wild,—
(As you bound, like a fawn, on the grassy plain,
Stopping each moment to laugh again,)
With a throbbing breast as away you rove,
A heart so full of a mother's love!
With thy graceful form and actions wild,—
(As you bound, like a fawn, on the grassy plain,
Stopping each moment to laugh again,)
With a throbbing breast as away you rove,
A heart so full of a mother's love!
Thy sunny smile and thy childish glee,
Come o'er my soul like sweet minstrelsy;
And I fly from the world's delusive bliss,
To lighten my heart with a sight like this!
Yes, my sweet one, thy faintest tone,
Is a blessed pledge,—I am not alone.
Come o'er my soul like sweet minstrelsy;
And I fly from the world's delusive bliss,
To lighten my heart with a sight like this!
Yes, my sweet one, thy faintest tone,
Is a blessed pledge,—I am not alone.
Can it be, that young heart should ever swell
With the pangs that too oft in my bosom dwell?
Must that fair young brow, and that beaming eye,
Be dimmed by the world, and the wearied sigh,
And in secret droop o'er the ruined hope,—
Fair child, must thou e'er with such sorrows cope?
With the pangs that too oft in my bosom dwell?
Must that fair young brow, and that beaming eye,
Be dimmed by the world, and the wearied sigh,
And in secret droop o'er the ruined hope,—
Fair child, must thou e'er with such sorrows cope?
Thou must, sweet one! too well I know
That sorrow's the portion of all below.
But we'll heed it not, for full soon, alas I
Will thy joyous moments of pleasure pass.
Then come, let us play in the sunny beam,
And not of the world of sorrow dream.
That sorrow's the portion of all below.
But we'll heed it not, for full soon, alas I
Will thy joyous moments of pleasure pass.
Then come, let us play in the sunny beam,
And not of the world of sorrow dream.