Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/238

178 I'll teach my Boy the sweetest things;

I'll teach him how the owlet sings.

My little Babe! thy lips are still,

And thou hast almost sucked thy fill.

—Where art thou gone, my own dear Child?

What wicked looks are those I see?

Alas! alas! that look so wild,

It never, never came from me:

If thou art mad, my pretty lad,

Then I must be for ever sad.

Oh! smile on me, my little lamb!

For I thy own dear Mother am.

My love for thee has well been tried;

I've sought thy Father far and wide.

I know the poisons of the shade,

I know the earth-nuts fit for food;

Then, pretty dear, be not afraid;

We'll find thy Father in the wood.

Now laugh and be gay, to the woods away!

And there, my babe, we'll live for aye."