Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/628

 JOANNA BAILLIE

Both child and nurse are fast asleep,

And closed is every flower, And winking tapers faintly peep

High from my lady's bower; Bcwilder'd hinds with shortened ken

Shrink on their murky way; Uprousc ye then, my merry men!

It is out op'ning day. Nor board nor garner own we now,

Nor roof nor latched door, Nor kind mate, bound by holy vow

To bless a good man's store; Noon lulls us in a gloomy den,

And night is grown our day; Uprouse ye then, my merry men'

And use it a^ yc may.

MARY LAMB ,

525 A Child

A CHILD 's a plaything for an hour, Its pretty trickt> we try For that or for a longer space

Then tire, and lay it by. But I knew one that to itself All seasons could control, That would have mock'd the sense of pain

Out of a grieved soul. Thou straggler into loving arms,

Young climber-up of knees, When I forget thy thousand ways

Then life and all shall cease.

�� �