Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A CHILD, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A CHILD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If I could but be happy
Last Line: On your beauty, my dear.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


If I could but be happy,
As you, dear, are happy! --
Like green fields in May
All my heart gay;
Like pure April skies
Clear light in my eyes;
Yes, and shake a small tongue
In sweet sallies of song,
And dance with my shadow
In the sun in the meadow,
And lie down to rest,
Joy in my breast!

But alas and alack,
Childhood will not come back.
Like snow Time's strange hours
Have o'er-topped its small flowers,
Have frozen its waters,
And silenced its rills
And clothed with cold cloud
The gold of its hills.

Yet this sadness I know
Is but fancies of woe,
Heavy dreams that would break
If I could but awake
From the sleep I am in,
The dull sleep I am in;
If Youth would consent
To return to my door --
Call with the wild voice
It called me before;
I should slip off this heaviness,
Scorn anxious fear,
And gaze without grief
On your beauty, my dear.





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