The poetical works of William Lisle Bowles ... with memoir, critical dissertation, and explanatory notes, by the Rev. George Gilfillan |
 | I. |
| II. |
 | The poetical works of William Lisle Bowles |  |
THE LITTLE SWEEP.
WRITTEN FOR JAMES MONTGOMERY'S CHIMNEY-SWEEPER'S ALBUM.
1
They sing of the poor sailor-boy, who wanders o'er the deep,But few there are who think upon the friendless little sweep!
262
When the keen north wind is piping shrill, the shivering urchin goes.
2
He has no father; and from grief, his mother's eyes are dim,And none beside, in all the world, awakes to pray for him;
For him no summer Sundays smile, no health is in the breeze;
His mind is dark as his face, a prey to dire disease.
3
O English gentlemen! your hearts have bled for the black slave,—You heard his melancholy moan from the Atlantic wave;
He thought upon his father's land, and cried, A long farewell,
But blessed you, gazing at the sun, when first his fetters fell.
4
And if ye plead for creatures dumb, and deem their fate severe,Shall human wrongs, in your own land, call forth no generous tear?
Humanity implores; awake from apathy's cold sleep,
And when you plead for others' wrongs, forget not the poor sweep.
5
When summer comes, the bells shall ring, and flowers and hawthorns blow,The village lasses and the lads shall all a-Maying go:
263
Whose bounty at that season flows, to cheer the little sweep.
6
'Tis yours, ye English gentlemen, such comforts to prolong;'Tis yours the friendless to protect, and all who suffer wrong;
But one day in the toiling year the friendless sweep is gay,
Protect, and smiling industry shall make his long year May.
| The poetical works of William Lisle Bowles | |