New songs of innocence :: :: University of Virginia Library

Through the red sea of grasses
That trembles and divides,
And falls in fragrant masses
Before his manful strides,
He comes! with blue eyes beaming
Beneath his lint-white hair—
The life within them gleaming
Would light a winter's care.

This is no princely stranger
From regions fair and far;
This merry meadow-ranger
Mourns no deserted star.
These frank and friendly glances,
The kindness of his mirth,
Proclaim him who advances
A citizen of earth.

There's pleasure in his coming
To every living thing,
The bees about him humming,
The birds upon the wing,

The collie from the farm there
Exuberant of tail,
The sheep without alarm there
His welcome advent hail.

At every wayside meeting
With every ragged child,
He smiles as frank a greeting
As ever equal smiled;
That some have more than others
He does not understand;
To all mankind as brothers
He reaches out his hand.

My Jamie, when the roses
Have faded from your face,
And manhood's strength deposes
That fresh and boyish grace,
Hold fast, till to the portals
Of death those feet have trod,
The brotherhood of mortals,
The fatherhood of God!