Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/231

171 Here, little Darling, dost thou lie;

An Infant Thou, a Mother I!

Mine wilt thou be, thou hast no fears;

Mine art thou—spite of these my tears.

Alas! before I left the spot,

My Baby and its dwelling-place;

The Nurse said to me, 'Tears should not

Be shed upon an Infant's face,

It was unlucky'—no, no, no;

No truth is in them who say so!

My own dear Little-one will sigh,

Sweet Babe! and they will let him die.

'He pines,' they'll say, 'it is his doom,

And you may see his hour is come.'

Oh! had he but thy cheerful smiles,

Limbs stout as thine, and lips as gay,

Thy looks, thy cunning, and thy wiles,

And countenance like a summer's day,

They would have hopes of him—and then

I should behold his face again!