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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A CHILD'S PROTRAIT by WILLIAM JAMES DAWSON

First Line: HER FACE IS HUSHED IN PERFECT CALM
Last Line: WERE CAUGHT INTO THE SMILE OF GOD.
Subject(s): GIRLS; PORTRAITS;

HER face is hushed in perfect calm,
Her lips half-open hint the psalm
The angels sing, who wear God's palm:
And in her eyes a liquid light,
With somewhat of a starry sheen,
Comes welling upward from the white
And vestal soul that throbs within.

A golden tangle is her hair
That holds the sunlight in its snare;
And one pure lily she doth wear
In her white robe: and she doth seem
A flower-like creature, who will fade
If suns strike down too rude a beam,
Or winds blow roughly on her shade.

The golden ladders of the Dawn
Meet at her feet, where on the lawn
She stands, in tender thought withdrawn:
And little wonder would it be,
If on those slanting stairs she trod,
And, with one farewell smile toward me,
Were caught into the smile of God.



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