I. My heart leaps up when I behold So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a Man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The child is Father of the Man; II. TO A BUTTERFLY. STAY near me do not take thy flight! A little longer stay in sight! Much converse do I find in Thee, Historian of my Infancy! Float near me; do not yet depart! Dead times revive in thee: Thou bring'st, gay Creature as thou art! A solemn image to my heart, My Father's Family! Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days, The time, when in our childish plays, Together chased the Butterfly! A very hunter did I rush Upon the prey-with leaps and springs I followed on from brake to bush; But She, God love her! feared to brush The dust from off its wings. III. FORESIGHT, Or the Charge of a Child to his younger Companion. THAT is work of waste and ruin. I am older, Anne, than you. Pull the Primrose, Sister Anne! Here are Daisies, take your fill; Pansies, and the Cuckow-flower: Of the lofty Daffodil bower; Make your bed, and make your Primroses, the Spring may love them Summer knows but little of them; Violets, a barren kind, Withered on the ground must lie; Daisies leave no fruit behind When the pretty flowerets die; God has given a kindlier power Then will hang on every stalk, Each within its leafy bower; And for that promise spare the flower! IV. CHARACTERISTICS Of a Child three Years old. LOVING she is, and tractable, though wild; Not less if unattended and alone Than when both young and old sit gathered round And take delight in its activity, Even so this happy Creature of herself Is all sufficient: solitude to her Is blithe society, who fills the air With gladness and involuntary songs. Light are her sallies as the tripping Fawn's Unthought-of, unexpected as the stir Of the soft breeze ruffling the meadow flowers; The many-coloured images impressed |