Poems (Odom)/My Baby's Godmother
MY BABY'S GODMOTHER.(MRS. E. O. C. M'INERNEY, OF GALVESTON.)
Dear little Mother!—in the holy name of God,Down the sweet paths of grace your sinless feet have trod,With God's love shining on you like the sun,By your example lead my darling little one.
The worldly path his dimpled feet must enter inIs full of dark temptation and of mortal sin;If by its pomp and shine his soul is over-awed,With ever-watchful prayer, oh! guard my baby, Claude.
If, ere his little life has lost its infant charms,Death rudely should unclasp his mother's clinging arms,If the eternal dawn, for me, is first to break,Then sometimes take my child, and kiss him for my sake.
Smooth back the silken hair that on his forehead lies,Look with a tender smile into his bright blue eyes,And while within your arms he leans upon your knee,Let something speak through him in memory of me.
Galveston, June, 1884.