Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VERSES TO AN INFANT, by BERNARD BARTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VERSES TO AN INFANT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Blessings rest on thee, happy one
Last Line: In mercy be fulfill'd.
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Babies; Infants


BLESSINGS rest on thee, happy one!
All that parental love
Could ask, or wish, since life begun,
Be given thee from above.

Fruitless the wish, and vain the prayer,
For perfect bliss, would be;
Thou canst not shun what all must share,
Nor 'scape from sorrow free.

What all must meet, thou canst not miss;
Yet mayst thou, sweet-one! know
Capacity to relish bliss,
And strength to combat wo.

May that pure innocence, which now
Is infancy's best spell,
Encircle long thy cloudless brow,
And in thy bosom dwell.

It is the talisman, whose touch
Is like Ithuriel's spear;
And it shall teach thee, us'd as such,
Both what to love and fear.

In all the countless codes and creeds
Which man for man has plann'd,
Is much, that he who oftenest reads
Can never understand.

May these be as a volume seal'd;—
A fountain clos'd to thee;
And in thy heart shall be reveal'd
Life's true philosophy.

Thus should it be; for thou art one
Round whom the enlight'ning ray
Of nature's outward, glorious sun,
Will freely sport and play.

And the uncharter'd breeze, that sweeps
Thy native valley fair,
Will dry the tear thy young eye weeps,
And wave thy flowing hair.

Then be a child of nature's school,
Her silent teachings trace;
And she shall fit thee for the rule
Of holy, heavenly grace.

For they are still the truly wise,
Who earliest learn to look
On earth's best charms, on sun, and skies,
As wisdom's open book.

There may thy dawning reason read
Instruction, line by line;
And guileless thought, and virtuous deed,
In life's first bloom be thine.

Thus taught, nor art, nor base deceit
Shall mar thy opening youth;
Thy heart with healthful hopes shall beat,
Thy tongue be tun'd to truth.

And when, through childhood's paths of flowers,
Thy infant steps have trod,
Thy soul shall be, in after hours,
Prepar'd to learn of GOD!

His SPIRIT, plac'd within thy heart,
Shall fill it, from above,
With grace to act a Christian's part,
And keep it pure by love.

And thou shalt find in every stage
Of ripening soul and sense,
That virtue's guard, in youth, in age,
Is holy innocence!

Parewell! I dare not hope that prayer
Of mine can prove of worth;
Yet this may not disperse in air,
Since thou hast given it birth.

Oh, for thy sake! and theirs no less,
Who on thy being build!
May the warm hopes these lines express,
In mercy be fulfill'd.





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