 | The Poems of Mackenzie Bell |  |
140
LITTLE BERTIE.
(His Mother Speaks).
I.
Rest you in quiet now, my baby boy,
You are in truth your parents' highest joy;—
For though our home has ever been a place
Where Happiness has deigned to show her face,
Yet still your birth increased its bliss much more,
And filled a void there was in it before.
You are in truth your parents' highest joy;—
For though our home has ever been a place
Where Happiness has deigned to show her face,
Yet still your birth increased its bliss much more,
And filled a void there was in it before.
O may your life continue ever free
From taint of shame, whate'er your lot may be:
As spotless as the snow-drops oft appear
When first they come to tell us Spring is near:
Such is my wish for you, my jewel prized;
May I yet live to see it realized.
From taint of shame, whate'er your lot may be:
As spotless as the snow-drops oft appear
When first they come to tell us Spring is near:
Such is my wish for you, my jewel prized;
May I yet live to see it realized.
II.
Your mother's love is tender, true, and kind,
From all the dross of selfishness refined;
In childhood's years it is a tender guide
To keep you safe from harm on every side;
And when your childhood's cherished days are passed,
'Twill help you to endure the world's rough blast.
From all the dross of selfishness refined;
In childhood's years it is a tender guide
To keep you safe from harm on every side;
And when your childhood's cherished days are passed,
'Twill help you to endure the world's rough blast.
141
Her love abides; hallowed by memory still,
Through joy or sorrow, happiness or ill;
And, like some flower, growth of a holier sphere,
To gladden earth awhile, transplanted here,
'Twill shed its fragrance still o'er all your ways
And cheer your drooping heart in life's dark days.
Through joy or sorrow, happiness or ill;
And, like some flower, growth of a holier sphere,
To gladden earth awhile, transplanted here,
'Twill shed its fragrance still o'er all your ways
And cheer your drooping heart in life's dark days.
| The Poems of Mackenzie Bell | |