Poems (McDonald)/To the Portrait of a Child

by Mary Noel McDonald

TO THE PORTRAIT OF A CHILD.

"Thou art so life-like, speak to me."

Thy lip hath a curl of winning grace,
And smiles are lighting thy cherub face,
And thine eyes beam forth with a cunning glee,
Meet for the features of infancy;
And thy silken tresses in beauty fall
Round thy temples fair, like a coronal:
How much like life! Can it really be
Only the canvass that smiles on me?

Oh! well hath the painter's skill portrayed
Thy fairy figure in light and shade!
So well, that I list for thy laughing tone,
And look for thy fingers to grasp my own,
And hear thy wishes for some gay toy
In thy gentle accents, my bright-haired boy!
Wilt thou not bound in thy joyousness
To my open arms, and my fond caress?

Picture, thou tellest of beauty bright,
Lip like the ruby, and eye of light—
Cheek of the rose-tint, and forehead fair,
And a buoyant spirit unchained by care.
Boy—as thy years roll swiftly on,
When childhood's visions and hopes have flown,
Look on thine image, and strive to be,
Guileless and pure as in infancy.