Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A CHILD DURING SICKNESS, by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A CHILD DURING SICKNESS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep breathes at last from out thee
Last Line: "who say, ""we 've finished here."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hunt, Leigh
Variant Title(s): To T. L. H.
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Childhood; Death - Babies


SLEEP breathes at last from out thee,
My little patient boy;
And balmy rest about thee
Smooths off the day's annoy.
I sit me down, and think
Of all thy winning ways;
Yet almost wish, with sudden shrink,
That I had less to praise.
Thy sidelong pillowed meekness;
Thy thanks to all that aid;
Thy heart, in pain and weakness,
Of fancied faults afraid;
The little trembling hand
That wipes thy quiet tears, --
These, these are things that may demand
Dread memories for years.
Sorrows I've had, severe ones,
I will not think of now;
And calmly, midst my dear ones,
Have wasted with dry brow;
But when thy fingers press
And pat my stoping head,
I cannot bear the glentleness, --
The tears are in their bed.
Ah, first-born of thy mother,
When life and hope were new;
Kind playmate of thy brother,
Thy sister, father too;
My light, where'er I go;
My bird, when prison-bound;
My hand-in-hand companion -- No,
My prayers shall hold thee round.
To say, "He has departed" --
"His voice" -- "his face" -- is gone,
To feel impatient hearted,
Yet feel we must bear on, --
Ah, I could not endure
To whisper of such woe,
Unless I felt this sleep insure
That it will not be so.
Yes, still he's fixed, and sleeping!
This silence too the while, --
Its very hush and creeping
Seem whispering us a smile;
Something divine and dim
Seems going by one's ear,
Like parting wings of cherubim,
Who say, "We 've finished here."




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net