Page:Poems Blake.djvu/159

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MY LITTLE MAN.
151
Fashioned in babyhood's exquisite grace,
Beauty without and beauty within,—
  Full of light, golden bright, life as it seems,
  Not a tear, not a fear, knows in thy dreams;
  Kisses and blisses now make up its span,
  Could it be always so, my little man?

My little man the years fly away,
Chances and changes may come to us all,—
I'll look for the babe at my side some day,
And find him above me, six feet tall;
  Flowing beard hiding the dimples I love,
  Grizzled locks shading the clear brow above,
  Youth's promise ripened on Nature's broad plan,
  And nothing more left me of my little man.

My little man,—when time shall bow,
With its hoary weight, my head and thine,—
Will you love me then as you love me now,
With sweet eyes looking so fond in mine?
  However strangely my lot may be cast,
  My hope in life's future, my joy in life's past,