12 THE PROMISE OF CHILDHOOD. THE PROMISE OF CHILDHOOD. A ROSE-BUD by my early walk, Ere twice the shades o' dawn are fled, Within the bush, her covert nest She soon shall see her tender brood, So thou, dear bird, young Jeany fair, and So thou, sweet rose-bud, young That watch'd thy early morning. gay, R. Burns. BLIGHTED IN THE BUD. 13 BLIGHTED IN THE BUD. THREE years she grew in sun and shower; This child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make "Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse: and with me The girl, in rock and plain, In earth and heaven, in glade and bower To kindle or restrain. "She shall be sportive as the fawn That wild with glee across the lawn And her's shall be the breathing balm, And her's the silence and the calm Of mute insensate things. "The floating clouds their state shall lend To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see E'en in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden's form 14 BLIGHTED IN THE BUD. "The stars of midnight shall be dear Where rivulets dance their wayward round, "And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give While she and I together live. Here in this happy dell." Thus Nature spake.-The work was done How soon my Lucy's race was run! She died, and left to me This heath, this calm and quiet scene; The memory of what has been, And never more will be. William Wordsworth. Mod BEREAVEMENT. 15 BEREAVEMENT. SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways A maid whom there were none to praise, A violet by a mossy stone She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and O! The difference to me! W. Wordsworth. 16 RECONCILEMENT THROUGH LOSS. RECONCILEMENT THROUGH LOSS. As thro' the land at eve we went, We fell out, my wife and I, And kissed again with tears. And blessings on the falling out When we fall out with those we love, For when we came where lies the child There above the little grave, A. Tennyson. |