 | Jane and Ann Taylor: Original Poems for Infant Minds |  |
66
THE BLIND SAILOR.
A sailor, with a wooden leg,
A little charity implores;
He holds his tattered hat to beg,
Come, let us join our little stores.
Poor sailor! we ourselves might be
As helpless and as poor as he.
A little charity implores;
He holds his tattered hat to beg,
Come, let us join our little stores.
Poor sailor! we ourselves might be
As helpless and as poor as he.
“A thousand thanks, my lady kind,
A thousand blessings on your head;
A flash of lightning struck me blind,
Or else I would not beg my bread.
I pray that you may never be
A poor blind wanderer like me.
A thousand blessings on your head;
A flash of lightning struck me blind,
Or else I would not beg my bread.
I pray that you may never be
A poor blind wanderer like me.
“I watched amid the stormy blast,
While fearful thunders rent the clouds;
A flash of lightning split the mast,
And danced among the bellowing shrouds;
That moment to the deck I fell,
A poor, unhappy spectacle.
While fearful thunders rent the clouds;
A flash of lightning split the mast,
And danced among the bellowing shrouds;
That moment to the deck I fell,
A poor, unhappy spectacle.
67
“From that tremendous, awful night,
I've never seen the cheerful day;
No—not a spark of glimmering light
Has shone across my darksome way.
That light I valued not before,
Shall bless these withered eyes no more.
I've never seen the cheerful day;
No—not a spark of glimmering light
Has shone across my darksome way.
That light I valued not before,
Shall bless these withered eyes no more.
“My little dog—a faithful friend,
Who with me crossed the stormy main,
Doth still my weary path attend,
And comfort me in all my pain;
He guides me from the miry bog—
My poor, half-famished, faithful dog!
Who with me crossed the stormy main,
Doth still my weary path attend,
And comfort me in all my pain;
He guides me from the miry bog—
My poor, half-famished, faithful dog!
“With this companion at my side,
I travel on my lonely way:
And God Almighty will provide
A crust to feed us day by day.
Weep not for me, my lady kind,
Almighty God protects the blind.”
I travel on my lonely way:
And God Almighty will provide
A crust to feed us day by day.
Weep not for me, my lady kind,
Almighty God protects the blind.”
| Jane and Ann Taylor: Original Poems for Infant Minds | |