Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/307
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TO AN INFANT SMILING AS IT AWOKE.
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And the hour of dusk is coining,
Yet no more the babe can sleep;
By the door, with soundless gliding,
Lo! a woman's form doth sweep.
Yet no more the babe can sleep;
By the door, with soundless gliding,
Lo! a woman's form doth sweep.
Waving white, a gauzy mantle
Falls the silent one to hide;
Sure she once hath known the chamber,
Now she's by the cradle's side.
Falls the silent one to hide;
Sure she once hath known the chamber,
Now she's by the cradle's side.
There she rocks the child to slumber,
Singing low no mortal tone;
Thrice she kissed and thrice she crossed it,
Bent to bless it and was gone.
Singing low no mortal tone;
Thrice she kissed and thrice she crossed it,
Bent to bless it and was gone.
Seven days in dusky gloaming
Came that silent one again,
Stilled the child's distress and weeping,
Lulled with song its waking pain.
Came that silent one again,
Stilled the child's distress and weeping,
Lulled with song its waking pain.
When the eighth grey eve was falling,
Still and mute the child was found;
Snowy white and crimson roses
Had its cradle decked around.
Still and mute the child was found;
Snowy white and crimson roses
Had its cradle decked around.
In the weird night, dumb with sorrow,
Bear they off the babe to rest,
To her new-made grave, and lay it
Close beside its mother's breast.
Bear they off the babe to rest,
To her new-made grave, and lay it
Close beside its mother's breast.
To an Infant Smiling as It Awoke.
After the sleep of night as some still lake
Displays the cloudless heaven in reflection,
And, dimpled by the breezes, seems to break
Into a waking smile of recollection,
As if from its calm depths the morning light
Called up the pleasant dreams that gladdened night—
Displays the cloudless heaven in reflection,
And, dimpled by the breezes, seems to break
Into a waking smile of recollection,
As if from its calm depths the morning light
Called up the pleasant dreams that gladdened night—
So doth the laughing azure of those eyes
Display a mental heaven of its own:
In that illumined smile I recognise
The sunlight of a sphere to us unknown;
Thou hast been dreaming of some previous bliss
In other worlds—for thou art new to this.
Display a mental heaven of its own:
In that illumined smile I recognise
The sunlight of a sphere to us unknown;
Thou hast been dreaming of some previous bliss
In other worlds—for thou art new to this.
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