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150
THE WAIF
The unseen wings that brought him here
Have wafted far away
The child too delicate to bear
On earth a longer stay.
I often marvel how he chanced
The broad blue road to miss,
Wavered, forgot his world, and glanced
Mistakenly to this.
Have wafted far away
The child too delicate to bear
On earth a longer stay.
I often marvel how he chanced
The broad blue road to miss,
Wavered, forgot his world, and glanced
Mistakenly to this.
Perhaps the road was very long,
The wings were very tired;
Perhaps the call of evensong
By many birds was quired
So sweetly that the little breast
Was tempted by a world
Alive with tune, where heart could rest
And jaded wings be furled.
The wings were very tired;
Perhaps the call of evensong
By many birds was quired
So sweetly that the little breast
Was tempted by a world
Alive with tune, where heart could rest
And jaded wings be furled.
Two years he rested, well content
With what my hands could give
In love and labour fiercely spent
To help the child to live.
Love as we will, the skies re-take
A truant of the skies,
Though hearts that fed the wanderer break
To have it otherwise.
With what my hands could give
In love and labour fiercely spent
To help the child to live.
151
A truant of the skies,
Though hearts that fed the wanderer break
To have it otherwise.
As often as I watch the boys
Entrusted to my care,
To whom the oak and elm are toys,
The stream a jump to dare,
I love to think my frailer son,
Now suited by his place,
Is quick to climb, alert to run,
And bonny-brown of face.
Entrusted to my care,
To whom the oak and elm are toys,
The stream a jump to dare,
I love to think my frailer son,
Now suited by his place,
Is quick to climb, alert to run,
And bonny-brown of face.
Since there was need for him to know
On earth a human nest,
How glad I am he did not go
Beyond my willing breast!
How glad to think the very skies
That lost him for a while
Are keeping for his mother's eyes
That unforgotten smile!
On earth a human nest,
How glad I am he did not go
Beyond my willing breast!
How glad to think the very skies
That lost him for a while
Are keeping for his mother's eyes
That unforgotten smile!
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