Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A CHILD, by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844) Poet's Biography First Line: Dear child! Whom sleep can hardly tame Last Line: Anew discloses god to earth. Subject(s): Children; Childhood | ||||||||
DEAR child! whom sleep can hardly tame, As live and beautiful as flame, Thou glancest round my graver hours As if thy crown of wild-wood flowers Were not by mortal forehead worn, But on the summer breeze were borne, Or on a mountain streamlet's waves Came glistening down from dreamy caves. With bright round cheek, amid whose glow Delight and wonder come and go, And eyes whose inward meanings play, Congenial with the light of day, And brow so calm, a home for Thought Before he knows his dwelling wrought; Though wise indeed thou seemest not, Thou brightenest well the wise man's lot. That shout proclaims the undoubting mind, That laughter leaves no ache behind; And in thy look and dance of glee, Unforced, unthought of, simply free, How weak the schoolman's formal art Thy soul and body's bliss to part! I hail thee Childhood's very Lord, In gaze and glance, in voice and word. In spite of all foreboding fear, A thing thou art of present cheer; And thus to be belov'd and known As is a rushy fountain's tone, As is the forest's leafy shade, Or blackbird's hidden serenade: Thou art a flash that lights the whole; A gush from Nature's vernal soul. And yet, dear Child! within thee lives A power that deeper feeling gives, That makes thee more than light or air, Than all things sweet and all things fair; And sweet and fair as aught may be, Diviner life belongs to thee, For 'mid thine aimless joys began The perfect Heart and Will of Man. Thus what thou art foreshows to me How greater far thou soon shalt be; And while amid thy garlands blow The winds that warbling come and go, Ever within not loud but clear Prophetic murmur fills the ear, And says that every human birth Anew discloses God to earth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE ALFRED THE HARPER by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844) |
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