Classic Poem

Pretty , smiling, lovely boy,
Father's darling, mother's joy,
Full of sunshine, full of glee,
Let me sing a song for thee.
Thou didst first delight my gaze
In the brown October days,
When the leaves were falling fast,
And a dirge was in the blast,
For the dark, decaying year,
Soon to slumber on his bier.

O the gladness of thine eyes
Haunts me now with sweet surprise!
Like a daisy shining low,
Or a primrose in the snow.
Day was done, and eve came down,
Shadowing over tarn and town,
Rock and river, cliff and clod,
Wild and wood-brake, sea and sod.
Enter'd I thy home to see,
Where a welcome waited me.
How thy mother bless'd her child!
How thy father look'd and smiled!
How the bard, in words unsaid,
Heap'd high blessings on thy head!

Should the Father of the flock
Spare thee 'mid disease's shock,
'Mid the thousand ills that stand
Thronging thick this under-land,
Till the sun of manhood shine
On this beaming brow of thine,
What of all the treasures here
Shall I wish thee, darling dear?
Gold or silver, pearl or gem,
Wealth or glittering diadem,
Fame, or equipage and show,
Thrones and kingdoms? No, O no!
But a spirit full of love,
Most of all, to Him above.