Poems (Charlotte Allen)/To a Little Boy

by Charlotte Allen

TO A LITTLE BOY.

Sweet little child, with thy laughing eyes;
 And lofty brow so fair,
In thy tiny form a treasure lies,
 That 's well deserving care.
It is that magic thing, called mind,
 In embryo now in thee;
A few years hence, we 'll surely find,
 A valued gem 't will be.

And may thy heart full well repay
 Thy parent's anxious toil;
For they will guide thee day by day,
 And plant thy mental soil.
For as thy infant years pass by,
 Then childhood follows fast;
And youth then hastens recklessly;
 Stern manhood comes at last,—

And hurries down the rapid stream
 Of Time, thy fragile form;
But may no clouds e'er intervene,
 To chill thy feelings warm.
May all thy days on earth be blest
 With Heaven's protecting power;
May virtue dwell within thy breast,
 Religion be a flower—

A never-fading flower to live
 In thy expanding soul;
Its heavenly influence to give
 A charm throughout the whole.
And when thy little accents mild,
 Pours forth the fervent prayer,
That God would keep a little child
 In his Almighty care:—

Pray, Albert, for thy parents too,
 And humbly bend the knee;
Pray that their ills in life be few,
 For they have prayed for thee.