Page:Poems Acton.djvu/24

Slowly his footsteps stray
 By glade and hill,
Where the young sleeper lay
 Slumbering still;
Smiles on its eyelids rest,
As if its guileless breast
 Gay visions fill.

Soft stole the stranger on,
 Downward he bent;
Long that smooth brow upon
 Gazed he intent;
"Oh! that such rest were mine!
And to my sleep like thine
 Sweet dreams were sent."

Tears o'er his earnest gaze
 Silently start;
Thoughts of forgotten days
 Steal round his heart;
When with his day-dreams fair,
Like the child sleeping there,
 Grief had no part.

All that the world calls great,
 His might be styled;
Glory and high estate
 On him had smil'd;