Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume II/Love and the Child

by Florence Earle Coates

For other versions of this work, see Love and the Child.

LOVE AND THE CHILD

LOVE came into the world and said:
"With the tender infant on this bed
Shall be my home; I will impart
The winning graces to its heart
That blessing in life's pathway spread."

So—for Love crooned its lullabies—
His own smile dawned within its eyes,
And into its small being stole
The laughing radiance of his soul,
And all its eager sympathies.

Unconscious as the flowers that bless—
A tiny flame of lovingness—
To any palm it gave at once
A dimpled hand, in quick response,
Nor what "a stranger" meant might guess.

That to distrust is often well,
It heard with smile ineffable.
Then, on a morn, Love came to say:
"Thou child of mine, come, come away!
In Paradise to dwell!"