Page:Tale of Paraguay - Southey.djvu/18

12 That blithe and indefatigable bird Still his redundant song of joy and love preferr'd.

How I have doted on thine infant smiles At morning when thine eyes unclosed on mine; How, as the months in swift succession roll'd, I mark'd thy human faculties unfold, And watch'd the dawning of the light divine; And with what artifice of playful guiles Won from thy lips with still-repeated wiles Kiss after kiss, a reckoning often told,— Something I ween thou know'st; for thou hast seen Thy sisters in their turn such fondness prove, And felt how childhood in its winning years The attempered soul to tenderness can move. This thou canst tell; but not the hopes and fears With which a parent's heart doth overflow,— The thoughts and cares inwoven with that love,— Its nature and its depth, thou dost not, canst not know.