The Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard With a Memoir by Blanchard Jerrold |
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| VIII. | VIIIINFANCY ASLEEP. |
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 | The Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard |  |
131
VIII
INFANCY ASLEEP.
The fairest thing that human eyes may view
Now breathes beneath my own—a sleeping child,
Smiling beneath its thoughts and visions mild;
Its face upturned in hope's pervading hue,
As the glad morning of the mind dawns through.
These wordless lips as yet have only smiled
On life, nor hath an evil taint defiled
Eyes that are closed like flowers—whose tears are dew
From the heart's inmost heaven. Oh! infant heir
Of Nature, in thy fresh and delicate dust
If aught of ill be mingled, 'twere unjust
To deem it thine, for on thy forehead fair
Sit purity and peace: be ours the trust
That age shall find them still unchilled by crime or care!
| The Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard | |