A LITTLE heart where slept the germ, as yet in night concealed, Of power and glory since to be (how radiantly) reveal'd, Alone, beside a cradle bed, was beating fast and warm, Where, beautiful in slumber, lay a baby's dimpled form. The infant smiled in sleep, and lo! a little ardent hand, Ere fled the smile, had snatch'd a pen and paper from the stand, And traced the cradle and the babe, as if by magic spell; How soft, beneath that tiny touch, the fairy features fell. How fondly o'er the playful sketch he bends -- the enraptured boy -- Unmindful of his precious charge, so deep his dream of joy, 'T is broken by a stealing step -- his mother caught the prize, And kiss'd away the cloud of doubt that fill'd his timid eyes. Oh! blessed love! how mighty thou to sway the human heart A subtle yet a holy thing, and conqueror thou art! His sister's smile awoke the germ, his mother's kiss the flower And a world's tears the fruit embalm in many a classic bower | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CAMPUS SONNET: MAY MORNING by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET PORTRAIT OF A BABY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET IRELAND; WRITTEN FOR THE ART AUTOGRAPH DURING IRISH FAMINE by SIDNEY LANIER MIDDLE-AGED; A STUDY IN EMOTION by EZRA POUND JOHN BROWN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ON THE WAY (PHILADELPHIA, 1794) by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |