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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY LOST BABY by ANONYMOUS

First Line: COMES LITTLE MAUD AND STANDS BY MY KNEE
Last Line: THE PERILOUS HEIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD'S SHORE
Subject(s): BABIES; INFANTS;
COMES little Maud and stands by my knee,
Her soft eyes filled with a troubled joy;
And her wondering heart is perplexed to see
Her babyhood lost in our baby boy.

For Maud was a babe but a week ago, --
A gentle, lovable, clinging thing;
Now we are saddened but pleased to know
The queen is dethroned and there reigns a king, --

A tiny king, with a cheek like down;
With dark, indefinite-colored eyes;
With hair of the softest satiny brown;
Who doubles his fists and hiccoughs and cries;

Who groans, grimaces, and paws the air,
And twists his mouth in a meaningless smile;
Who fixes his eyes in a winkless stare,
And seems in the deepest thought the while;

A wee small king with a comical face,
Whom one moment we laugh at, the next caress;
A little monarch who holds his place
By the wondrous might of his helplessness.

Come hither, my Maud, with your wistful eyes;
Come hither, I'll lay the small tyrant down;
I'll gather you up in a glad surprise,
And press to my bosom your head of brown.

Nestle down close to your mother's breast,
Poor little babe of a week gone by;
Find for a moment a haven of rest, --
Clasping my neck with a satisfied sigh.

Alas! I have lost her, she is no more
The baby girl that I loved to press
Close to my heart; she's a woman before
This animate atom of helplessness.

My heart is sad for my girl to-day;
In a moment babyhood's privileged years
Have passed from her life forever away, --
We see them vanish through misty tears.

Farewell, sweet babe of a week agone!
Thou hast reached the land of the nevermore,
And Maud's little feet are standing on
The perilous heights of childhood's shore.



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