Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GIVE ME THE BABY, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GIVE ME THE BABY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Give me the baby to hold, my
Last Line: Give me the baby to hold, my dear!
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Babies; Love; Soul; Infants


GIVE me the baby to hold, my dear --
To hold and hug, and to love and kiss.
Ah! he will come to me, never a fear --
Come to the nest of a breast like this,
As warm for him as his face with cheer.
Give me the baby to hold, my dear!
Trustfully yield him to my caress.
"Bother," you say? What! "a bother" to me? --
To fill up my soul with such happiness
As the love of a baby that laughs to be
Snuggled away where my heart can hear!
Give me the baby to hold, my dear!

Ah, but his hands are grimed, you say,
And would soil my laces and clutch my hair. --
Well, what would pleasure me more, I pray,
Than the touch and tug of the wee hands there? --
The wee hands there, and the warm face here --
Give me the baby to hold, my dear!

Give me the baby! (Oh, won't you see?
. . . Somewhere, out where the green of the lawn
Is turning to gray, and the maple tree
Is weeping its leaves of gold upon
A little mound, with a dead rose near. . . .)
Give me the baby to hold, my dear!





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