Child of the flaxen locks, and laughing eye, Culling with hasty glee the flowerets gay, Or chasing with light foot the butterfly, I love to mark thee at thy frolic play. Near thee I see thy tender father stand, His anxious eye pursues thy roving track; And oft with warning voice and beckoning hand, He checks thy speed, and gently draws thee back. Why dost thou meekly yield to his decree? Fair boy, his fond regard to thee is known; He does not check thy joys from tyranny -- Thou art his lov'd, his cherish'd, and his own. When worldly lures, in manhood's coming hours, Tempt thee to wander from discretion's way; Oh! grasp not eagerly the offer'd flowers, Pause if thy Heavenly Father bid thee stay. Pause, and in Him revere a friend and guide, Who does not willingly thy faults reprove, But ever, when thou rovest from his side, Watches to win thee back with pitying love | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN INVOCATION; SONG, FR. REMORSE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG by OLIVER GOLDSMITH CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON HIS MISTRESS, THE QUEEN OF BOHEMIA by HENRY WOTTON ON VENUS ARISING FROM THE SEA by ANTIPATER OF SIDON THE WASPS: THE TRIAL OF THE DOG by ARISTOPHANES PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 80, 81. GHAFOOR, MUNTAKIM by EDWIN ARNOLD |