Page:Home; or, The unlost paradise (IA homeorunlostpara00palm).pdf/83

The excrescences of nature and the faults
That, left unheeded, must ere long become
Deformities, of God and man abhorred.

  As year on year fulfils its circling round,
Thou, Edward, notest with a father's pride
Thy Edith's maiden charms that ripen fast
Toward fairest womanhood. Oft o'er thy heart
Steals there a tranquil joy, a deep delight,
As 'neath thy watchful eye that wearieth not,
New dignity and grace her form invest;
New beauty tints her cheek, new thoughtfulness
Sits on her brow and lends her beaming eye
A deeper meaning and a milder fire.
Thou, Mary, on thy Alfred lov'st to fix
With tenderness profound thy earnest gaze.
God-given was he in place of thy first-born,
That Christ desired and angels bore away!
So doubly dear; and now that in his face
Thou readest thoughtfulness, and seest revealed
Reason's calm light, and wakened intellect,