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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Child Verse, by John B. Tabb
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Child Verse
+ Poems Grave & Gay
+
+Author: John B. Tabb
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2011 [EBook #37810]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILD VERSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, David E. Brown and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Child Verse: Poems Grave and Gay
+
+
+ CHILD
+ VERSE
+
+
+ Poems Grave & Gay
+ by John. B. Tabb
+
+
+ Small, Maynard & Company.
+ Boston 1900
+
+
+ _Copyright, 1899_
+ _By Small, Maynard & Company_
+ (_Incorporated._)
+
+ _Entered at Stationers' Hall_
+
+ _First Edition (1250 copies) November, 1899_
+ _Second Edition (1000 copies) December, 1899_
+
+ _The Rockwell and Churchill Press_
+ _Boston, U.S.A._
+
+
+ TO
+ MY LITTLE FRIEND
+ Henry Dinneen
+ WITH MY
+ LOVE AND BLESSING
+
+
+
+
+NOTE
+
+
+_Some of these verses have appeared in other places: one in St.
+Nicholas, one in Harper's Young People; and the Sunday School Times, the
+Youth's Companion, and the Independent have each published others. To
+this class belong, I think, all I reprint from my Poems and Lyrics. Most
+of the contents, however, is new._
+
+ J. B. T.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+Hare-bells 3
+
+At Cock-Crow 4
+
+A Duet 5
+
+The Bobolink 6
+
+The Bluebird 7
+
+The Woodpecker 8
+
+Chimney Stacks 9
+
+Butterfly 10
+
+The Honey Bee 11
+
+The Bee and the Blossoms 12
+
+The Tax-Gatherer 13
+
+Jack-o'-Lantern 14
+
+The Pleiads 15
+
+Jack Frost's Apology 16
+
+A Cavalcade 17
+
+Silk 18
+
+Seed-Time 19
+
+A Legacy 20
+
+Amid the Roses 21
+
+Light and Shadow 22
+
+Sleep 23
+
+The Fire-Fly 24
+
+The Dragon-Fly 25
+
+Archery 26
+
+A Spy 27
+
+A Lament 28
+
+Fern Song 29
+
+The Brook 30
+
+An Interview 31
+
+Baby's Dimples 32
+
+A Bunch of Roses 33
+
+Foot-Soldiers 34
+
+The Baby's Star 35
+
+Slumber-Song 36
+
+An Idolater 37
+
+The New-Year Babe 38
+
+Bicycles! Tricycles! 40
+
+High and Low 41
+
+Doctor Tumble-Bug 42
+
+Close Quarters 43
+
+The Time-Brood 44
+
+Pains-Taking 45
+
+A Rub 46
+
+Cats 47
+
+An Insectarian 48
+
+The Squirrel 49
+
+Hospitality 50
+
+Frog Making 51
+
+The Tree-Frog Pedigree 52
+
+An Explanation 53
+
+The Parlour and the Fly 54
+
+No Go 55
+
+A Mouse, A Cat, and an Irish Bull 56
+
+The Same with a Difference 57
+
+An Inconvenience 58
+
+The Tryst 59
+
+Etiquette 60
+
+A Sunstroke 61
+
+A Shuffle 62
+
+Washington's Ruse 63
+
+Panic 64
+
+The End of It 65
+
+A Little Child's Prayers 66
+
+The Child: At Bethlehem 67
+
+ To His Mother 68
+
+A Lily of the Field 69
+
+The Lamb-Child 70
+
+A Pair of Turtle-Doves 71
+
+Hide-and-Seek 72
+
+Out of Bounds 73
+
+The Child on Calvary 74
+
+The Child: At Nazareth 75
+
+St. Theresa and the Child 77
+
+Tradition 78
+
+
+
+
+CHILD VERSE
+
+
+
+
+HARE-BELLS
+
+
+ Ring! The little Rabbits' eyes,
+ In the morning clear,
+ Moisten to the melodies
+ They alone can hear.
+
+ Ring! The little Rabbits' feet,
+ Shod with racing rhyme,
+ If the breezes they would beat,
+ Must be beating time.
+
+ Ring! When summer days are o'er,
+ And the snowfalls come,
+ Rabbits count the hours no more,
+ For the bells are dumb.
+
+
+
+
+AT COCK-CROW
+
+
+ Crow! For the night has thrice denied
+ The glory of the Sun,
+ And now, repentant, turns aside
+ To weep what he has done.
+
+
+
+
+A DUET
+
+
+ A little yellow Bird above,
+ A little yellow Flower below;
+ The little Bird can _sing_ the love
+ That Bird and Blossom know;
+ The Blossom has no song nor wing,
+ But _breathes_ the love he cannot sing.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBOLINK
+
+
+ Your notes are few,
+ But sweet your song
+ As honey-dew;
+ And all day long,
+ Dear Bobolink, a-listening,
+ I never tire to hear you sing.
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUEBIRD
+
+
+ When God had made a host of them,
+ One little flower still lacked a stem
+ To hold its blossom blue;
+ So into it He breathed a song,
+ And suddenly, with petals strong
+ As wings, away it flew.
+
+
+
+
+THE WOODPECKER
+
+
+ The wizard of the woods is he;
+ For in his daily round,
+ Where'er he finds a rotting tree,
+ He makes the timber sound.
+
+
+
+
+CHIMNEY STACKS
+
+
+ In winter's cold and summer's heat
+ The hospitable chimneys greet
+ Their never-failing guests;
+ For when the sparks are upward gone,
+ The swallows downward come anon,
+ To build their neighboring nests.
+
+
+
+
+BUTTERFLY
+
+
+ Butterfly, Butterfly, sipping the sand,
+ Have you forgotten the flowers of the land?
+ Or are you so sated with honey and dew
+ That sand-filtered water tastes better to you?
+
+
+
+
+THE HONEY-BEE
+
+
+ O bee, good-by!
+ Your weapon's gone,
+ And you anon
+ Are doomed to die;
+ But Death to you can bring
+ No second sting.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEE AND THE BLOSSOMS
+
+
+ "Why stand ye idle, blossoms bright,
+ The livelong summer day?"
+ "Alas! we labour all the night
+ For what thou takest away."
+
+
+
+
+THE TAX-GATHERER
+
+
+ "And pray, who are you?"
+ Said the violet blue
+ To the Bee, with surprise
+ At his wonderful size,
+ In her eye-glass of dew.
+
+ "I, madam," quoth he,
+ "Am a publican Bee,
+ Collecting the tax
+ On honey and wax.
+ Have you nothing for me?"
+
+
+
+
+JACK-O'-LANTERN
+
+
+ "Jack-o'-Lantern, Jack-o'-Lantern,
+ Tell me where you hide by day?"
+ "In the cradle where the vapours
+ Dream the sunlit hours away."
+
+ "Jack-o'-Lantern, Jack-o'-Lantern,
+ Who rekindles you at night?"
+ "Any firefly in the meadow
+ Lends a Jack-o'-Lantern light."
+
+
+
+
+THE PLEIADS
+
+
+ "Who are ye with clustered light,
+ Little Sisters seven?"
+ "Crickets, chirping all the night
+ On the hearth of heaven."
+
+
+
+
+JACK FROST'S APOLOGY
+
+
+ To strip you of your foliage
+ My spirit sorely grieves;
+ Nor will I in the work engage
+ Unless you grant your leaves.
+
+
+
+
+A CAVALCADE
+
+
+ "Thistle-down, Thistle-down, whither away?
+ Will you not longer abide?"
+ "Nay, we have wedded the winds to-day,
+ And home with the rovers we ride."
+
+
+
+
+SILK
+
+
+ 'Twas the shroud of many a worm-like thing
+ That rose from its tangled skein;
+ 'Twas the garb of many a god-like king
+ Who went to the worms again.
+
+
+
+
+SEED-TIME
+
+
+ When Trumpet-flowers begin to blow
+ The Thistle-downs take heed,
+ For then they know 'tis time to go
+ And plant the winged seed.
+
+
+
+
+A LEGACY
+
+
+ Do you remember, little cloud,
+ This morning when you lay--
+ A mist along the river--what
+ The waters had to say?
+
+ And how the many-coloured flowers
+ That on the margin grew,
+ All promised when the day was done
+ To leave their tints to you?
+
+
+
+
+AMID THE ROSES
+
+
+ There was laughter 'mid the Roses,
+ For it was their natal day;
+ And the children in the garden were
+ As light of heart as they.
+
+ There were sighs amid the Roses,
+ For the night was coming on;
+ And the children--weary now of play--
+ Were ready to be gone.
+
+ There are tears amid the Roses,
+ For the children are asleep;
+ And the silence of the garden makes
+ The lonely blossoms weep.
+
+
+
+
+LIGHT AND SHADOW
+
+
+ "I love you, little maid,"
+ Said the Sunbeam to the Shade,
+ As all day long she shrank away before him;
+ But at twilight, ere he died,
+ She was weeping at his side;
+ And he felt her tresses softly trailing o'er him.
+
+
+
+
+SLEEP
+
+
+ When he is a little chap,
+ We call him _Nap_.
+ When he somewhat older grows,
+ We call him _Doze_.
+ When his age by hours we number,
+ We call him _Slumber_.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRE-FLY
+
+
+ "Are you flying through the night
+ Looking where to find me?"
+ "Nay; I travel with a light
+ For the folks _behind_ me."
+
+
+
+
+THE DRAGON-FLY
+
+
+ "Is skimming o'er a stagnant pool
+ Your only occupation?"
+ "Ah, no: 'tis at this Summer School
+ I get my education."
+
+
+
+
+ARCHERY
+
+
+ A bow across the sky
+ Another in the river,
+ Whence swallows upward fly,
+ Like arrows from a quiver.
+
+
+
+
+A SPY
+
+
+ Sighed the languid Moon to the Morning Star:
+ "O little maid, how late you are!"
+ "I couldn't rise from my couch," quoth she,
+ "While the Man-in-the-Moon was looking at me."
+
+
+
+
+A LAMENT
+
+
+ "O lady cloud, why are you weeping?" I said.
+ "Because," she made answer, "my rain-beau is dead."
+
+
+
+
+FERN SONG
+
+
+ Dance to the beat of the rain, little Fern,
+ And spread out your palms again,
+ And say, "Tho' the sun
+ Hath my vesture spun,
+ He had laboured, alas, in vain,
+ But for the shade
+ That the Cloud hath made,
+ And the gift of the Dew and the Rain."
+ Then laugh and upturn
+ All your fronds, little Fern,
+ And rejoice in the beat of the rain!
+
+
+
+
+THE BROOK
+
+
+ It is the mountain to the sea
+ That makes a messenger of me;
+ And, lest I loiter on the way
+ And lose what I am sent to say,
+ He sets his reverie to song,
+ And bids me sing it all day long.
+ Farewell! for here the stream is slow,
+ And I have many a mile to go.
+
+
+
+
+AN INTERVIEW
+
+
+ I sat with chill December
+ Beside the evening fire.
+ "And what do you remember,"
+ I ventured to inquire,
+ "Of seasons long forsaken?"
+ He answered in amaze,
+ "My age you have mistaken;
+ I've lived but thirty _days_."
+
+
+
+
+BABY'S DIMPLES
+
+
+ Love goes playing hide-and-seek
+ 'Mid the roses on her cheek,
+ With a little imp of Laughter,
+ Who, the while he follows after,
+ Leaves the footprints that we trace
+ All about the Kissing-place.
+
+
+
+
+A BUNCH OF ROSES
+
+
+ The rosy mouth and rosy toe
+ Of little baby brother
+ Until about a month ago
+ Had never met each other;
+ But nowadays the neighbours sweet,
+ In every sort of weather,
+ Half way with rosy fingers meet,
+ To kiss and play together.
+
+
+
+
+FOOT-SOLDIERS
+
+
+ 'Tis all the way to Toe-town,
+ Beyond the Knee-high hill,
+ That Baby has to travel down
+ To see the soldiers drill.
+
+ One, two, three, four, five, a-row--
+ A captain and his men--
+ And on the other side, you know,
+ Are six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
+
+
+
+
+THE BABY'S STAR
+
+
+ The Star that watched you in your sleep
+ Has just put out his light.
+ "Good-day, to you on earth," he said,
+ "Is here in heaven Good-night.
+
+ "But tell the Baby when he wakes
+ To watch for my return;
+ For I'll hang out my lamp again
+ When his begins to burn."
+
+
+
+
+SLUMBER-SONG
+
+
+ Lo, in the west
+ A cloud at rest--
+ A babe upon its mother's breast--
+ Is sleeping now.
+
+ Above it beams
+ A star that seems
+ To shed the light of holy dreams
+ Upon its brow.
+
+ But cloud and star,
+ Tho' nearer far
+ They seem, my Babe, more distant are
+ From heaven than thou.
+
+
+
+
+AN IDOLATER
+
+
+ The Baby has no skies
+ But Mother's eyes,
+ Nor any God above
+ But Mother's Love.
+ His angel sees the Father's face,
+ But _he_ the Mother's, full of grace;
+ And yet the heavenly kingdom is
+ Of such as this.
+
+
+
+
+THE NEW-YEAR BABE
+
+
+ Two together, Babe and Year,
+ At the midnight chime,
+ Through the darkness drifted here
+ To the coast of Time.
+
+ Two together, Babe and Year,
+ Over night and day,
+ Crossed the desert Winter drear
+ To the land of May.
+
+ On together, Babe and Year
+ Swift to Summer passed.
+ "Rest a moment, Brother dear,"
+ Said the Babe at last.
+
+ "Nay, but onward," answered Year,
+ "We must farther go,
+ Through the Vale of Autumn sere
+ To the Mount of Snow."
+
+ Toiling upward, Babe and Year
+ Climbed the frozen height.
+ "We may rest together here,
+ Brother Babe,--Good-night!"
+
+ Then together Babe and Year
+ Slept; but ere the dawn,
+ Vanishing, I know not where,
+ Brother Year was _gone_!
+
+
+
+
+BICYCLES! TRICYCLES!
+
+
+ Bicycles! Tricycles! Nay, to shun laughter,
+ _Try_ cycles first, and _buy_ cycles after;
+ For surely the buyer deserves but the worst
+ Who would buy cycles, failing to try cycles first.
+
+
+
+
+HIGH AND LOW
+
+
+ A Boot and a Shoe and a Slipper
+ Lived once in the Cobbler's row:
+ But the Boot and the Shoe
+ Would have nothing to do
+ With the Slipper, because she was low.
+
+ But the king and the queen and their daughter
+ On the Cobbler chanced to call;
+ And as neither the Boot
+ Nor the Shoe would suit
+ The Slipper went off to the ball.
+
+
+
+
+DOCTOR TUMBLE-BUG
+
+
+ With wondrous skill
+ He works until,
+ To suit himself, he makes it
+ A patent Pill,
+ To cure or kill
+ The sufferer that takes it.
+
+
+
+
+CLOSE QUARTERS
+
+
+ Little toe, big toe, three toes between,
+ All in a pointed shoe!
+ Never was narrower forecastle seen
+ Nor so little room for the crew.
+
+
+
+
+THE TIME-BROOD
+
+
+ I wonder how the mother-Hour
+ Can feed each hungry Minute,
+ And see that every one of them
+ Gets sixty seconds in it;
+
+ And whether, when she goes abroad,
+ She knows which ones attend her;
+ For all of them are just alike
+ In age and size and gender.
+
+
+
+
+PAINS-TAKING
+
+
+ "Take pains," growled the Tooth to the Dentist;
+ "The same," said the Dentist, "to you."
+ Then he added, "No doubt,
+ Before you are out
+ You'll have taken most pains of the two."
+
+
+
+
+A RUB
+
+
+ 'Twixt Handkerchief and Nose
+ A difference arose;
+ And a tradition goes
+ That they settled it by blows.
+
+
+
+
+CATS
+
+
+ They fought like demons of the night
+ Beneath a shrunken moon,
+ And all the roof at dawn of light
+ With _fiddle-strings_ was strewn.
+
+
+
+
+AN INSECTARIAN
+
+
+ "I cannot wash my dog," she said,
+ "Nor touch him with a comb,
+ For fear the Fleas upon him bred
+ May find no other home."
+
+
+
+
+THE SQUIRREL
+
+
+ Who combs you, little Squirrel?
+ And do you twist and twirl
+ When some one puts the papers on
+ To keep your tail in curl?
+
+ And must you see the dentist
+ For every tooth you break?
+ And are you apt from eating nuts
+ To get the stomach-ache?
+
+
+
+
+HOSPITALITY
+
+
+ Said a Snake to a Frog with a wrinkled skin,
+ "As I notice, dear, that your dress is thin,
+ And a _rain_ is coming, I'll take you in."
+
+
+
+
+FROG-MAKING
+
+
+ Said Frog papa to Frog mamma,
+ "Where is our little daughter?"
+ Said Frog mamma to Frog papa,
+ "She's underneath the water."
+
+ Then down the anxious father went,
+ And there, indeed, he found her,
+ A-tickling tadpoles, till they kicked
+ Their tails off all around her.
+
+
+
+
+THE TREE-FROG PEDIGREE
+
+
+ Our great ancestor, Polly Wog,
+ With her cousin, Thaddeus Pole,
+ Eloped from her home in an Irish bog,
+ And crossing the sea on the "Mayflower's" log,
+ At the risk of body and soul,
+ Married a Frog; and thus, you see,
+ How we come by a place in the family-tree
+ And the family name, Tree-frog.
+
+
+
+
+AN EXPLANATION
+
+
+ To the young lady Toad said her mother,
+ "How had you the boldness, my dear,
+ To propose to Miss Polliwog's brother?"
+ "Why, mamma," she replied, "'tis leap year!"
+
+
+
+
+THE PARLOUR AND THE FLY
+
+
+ "Will you walk into the Spider?"
+ Said the Parlour to the Fly;
+ "He's the emptiest little spider
+ That ever you did spy.
+
+ "And he covers me with cobweb;
+ So I want you to go in;
+ For--his lower chamber furnished--
+ He will have no room to spin."
+
+
+
+
+NO GO
+
+
+ Said a simpering Butterfly, sipping a rose,
+ To a graceless Mosquito on grandpapa's nose,
+ Whom she hoped to entrap,
+ "Pray come, Sir, and taste of this delicate stuff."
+ "Thanks, Madam, I'm just now taking my snuff,"
+ Quoth the impudent chap.
+
+
+
+
+A MOUSE, A CAT, AND AN IRISH BULL
+
+
+ A little mouse nibbled a Limburger cheese,
+ And back to his bedchamber stole,
+ Whence never again was he destined to squeeze,
+ For the smell was too large for the hole.
+
+ And a Pussy Cat, passing, instinctively stood;
+ For her appetite urged her to try it;
+ But she answered her stomach that grumbled for food,
+ "I should die if I lived on such diet."
+
+
+
+
+THE SAME WITH A DIFFERENCE
+
+
+ When first they wed he was a sing-er,
+ And much delight his songs did bring her;
+ But nowadays he proves a sin-ger,
+ And makes it hot for her as ginger.
+
+
+
+
+AN INCONVENIENCE
+
+
+ To his cousin the Bat
+ Squeaked the envious Rat,
+ "How fine to be able to fly!"
+ Tittered she, "Leather wings
+ Are convenient things;
+ But nothing _to sit on_ have I."
+
+
+
+
+THE TRYST
+
+
+ Potato was deep in the dark under ground,
+ Tomato, above in the light.
+ The little Tomato was ruddy and round,
+ The little Potato was white.
+
+ And redder and redder she rounded above,
+ And paler and paler he grew,
+ And neither suspected a mutual love
+ Till they met in a Brunswick stew.
+
+
+
+
+ETIQUETTE
+
+
+ "I long," said the new-gathered Lettuce,
+ "To meet our illustrious guest."
+ Cried the Caster, "Such haste
+ Is in very bad taste:
+ See first that you're properly _dressed_."
+
+
+
+
+A SUNSTROKE
+
+
+ The Sun courted Water,
+ Earth's loveliest daughter,
+ And strove to abduct her in vain:
+ For, when he had caught her,
+ And to the clouds brought her,
+ Home she came running in rain.
+
+
+
+
+A SHUFFLE
+
+
+ There was a rumpus in the Pack,
+ Whereof the King and Queen and Jack
+ Were playing knavish parts.
+ On Club and Spade was put the blame;
+ But these asserted 'twas a game
+ Of Diamonds and Hearts.
+
+
+
+
+WASHINGTON'S RUSE
+
+
+ When Georgie would not go to bed,
+ If some one asked him why,
+ "What is the use?" he gravely said,
+ "You know I cannot lie."
+
+
+
+
+PANIC
+
+
+ It struck the signs of the Zodiac,
+ Around the immovable Man
+ Who stands in front of the Almanack
+ To show his interior plan.
+
+ The Scorpion attacked the Bull,
+ The Bull aroused the Lion;
+ The Crab by their tails
+ Flung the Fish in the Scales,
+ Where they floundered as on a gridiron;
+ The Billy Goat went for the Gemini twins;
+ The Ram made a rush at Aquarius;
+ And a n_arrow_ escape had the Virgo's shins
+ From the shaft of her beau Sagittarius.
+
+
+
+
+THE END OF IT
+
+
+ A whole-tail dog, and a half-tail dog,
+ And a dog without a tail,
+ Went all three out on an autumn day
+ To follow a red-fox trail.
+
+ But the dogs that carried their tails along
+ Fell out, it is said, by the way;
+ And the loss of a tail and a half at the end
+ Of the dogs put an end to the fray.
+
+ When each, as a morsel sweet, gulped down
+ What had late been a neighbor's pride,
+ "You've kept your tails," laughed the no-tail dog,
+ "But you wear them now _inside_."
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE CHILD'S PRAYERS
+
+
+ I
+
+ Make me, dear Lord, polite and kind
+ To every one, I pray;
+ And may I ask you how you find
+ _Yourself_, dear Lord, to-day?
+
+
+ II
+
+ Lord, I have lost a toy
+ With which I love to play;
+ And as you were yourself a boy
+ Of just my age to-day,
+ O Son of Mary, would you mind
+ To help me now my toy to find?
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILD
+
+ AT BETHLEHEM
+
+
+ I
+
+ Long, long before the Babe could speak,
+ When he would kiss his mother's cheek
+ And to her bosom press,
+ The brightest angels, standing near,
+ Would turn away to hide a tear,
+ For they are motherless.
+
+
+ II
+
+ Where were ye, Birds, that bless His name,
+ When wingless to the world He came,
+ And _wordless_,--tho' Himself the Word
+ That made the blossom and the bird?
+
+
+ III
+
+ TO HIS MOTHER
+
+ He brought a Lily white,
+ That bowed its fragrant head
+ And blushed a rosy red
+ Before her fairer light.
+
+ He brought a Rose; and lo,
+ The crimson blossom saw
+ Her beauty; and in awe
+ Became as white as snow.
+
+
+
+
+A LILY OF THE FIELD
+
+
+ In all his glory, Solomon
+ Was never so arrayed;
+ Yet far more beautiful is one--
+ A MOTHER and a MAID--
+ Whose loveliness and lowliness
+ God stooped from highest heaven to bless.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAMB-CHILD
+
+
+ When Christ the Babe was born,
+ Full many a little lamb,
+ Upon the wintry hills forlorn,
+ Was nestled near its dam;
+
+ And, waking or asleep,
+ Upon His mother's breast,
+ For love of her, each mother-sheep
+ And baby-lamb He blessed.
+
+
+
+
+A PAIR OF TURTLE-DOVES
+
+ THE PURIFICATION
+
+
+ "Where, woman, is thine offering--
+ The debt of law and love?"
+ "My Babe a tender nestling is,
+ And I the mother-dove."
+
+
+
+
+HIDE-AND-SEEK
+
+
+ You hid your little self, dear Lord,
+ As other children do;
+ But oh, how great was their reward
+ Who sought three days for you!
+
+
+
+
+OUT OF BOUNDS
+
+
+ A little Boy, of heavenly birth,
+ But far from home to-day,
+ Comes down to find His ball, the Earth,
+ That Sin has cast away.
+ O comrades, let us one and all
+ Join in to get Him back His ball.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILD ON CALVARY
+
+
+ The Cross is tall,
+ And I too small
+ To reach His hand
+ Or touch His feet;
+ But on the sand
+ His footprints I have found,
+ And it is sweet
+ To kiss the holy ground.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILD
+
+ AT NAZARETH
+
+
+ I
+
+ Once, measuring His height, He stood
+ Beneath a cypress-tree,
+ And, leaning back against the wood,
+ Stretched wide His arms for me;
+ Whereat a brooding mother-dove
+ Fled fluttering from her nest above.
+
+
+ II
+
+ At evening He loved to walk
+ Among the shadowy hills, and talk
+ Of Bethlehem;
+ But if perchance there passed us by
+ The paschal lambs, He'd look at them
+ In silence, long and tenderly;
+ And when again He'd try to speak,
+ I've seen the tears upon His cheek.
+
+
+
+
+ST. THERESA AND THE CHILD
+
+
+ "Who art thou, son?" The little stranger smiled,
+ "And who art _thou_?" Whereto she made reply,
+ "Theresa I of Jesus am, my child."
+ He--radiant--"Jesus of Theresa I."
+
+
+
+
+TRADITION
+
+
+ When home our blessed Lord was gone,
+ His mother lived alone with John;
+ For each had secrets to impart
+ That Love had taught them both _by heart_.
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
+
+
+ Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_.
+
+ Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained from the original.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Child Verse, by John B. Tabb
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