Poems (Hornblower)/The Mount Gardens

by Jane Elizabeth Roscoe Hornblower

THE MOUNT GARDENS.

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Upon a peaceful Sabbath-day,
To a garden fair I bent my way;
Pure was the air, and fresh the breeze,
The busy rooks talked in the trees;
And I sat me down on a garden seat,
And I thought that the scene and the hour were sweet.

And I smiled as the bumble groups drew near,
Whose Sabbath pride was to ramble there;
Fond mothers, with then children bright,
Whose sleek fair hair shone in the light;
And fathers, with then- little men,
Living over their childish years again.

And the aged man, with bis staff in hand,
And his wrinkled smile, as he took his stand;
And his clean brown coat, and his gaiters trim,
Which some fond grand-child had brushed for him;
On him too I threw a passing gaze,
And said, "There may be joy in length of days."

Those gay bright groups had passed me all,
When I encountered a trio so small,
They might have come from the fairy ground,
And then wild elfin locks were straggling round,
Unribboned, uncombed, on their shoulders bare,
Little outcasts they from a mother's fond care.

Yet linked in each other was each fond hand,
They were running, and laughing—a happy band:
Each pale thin cheek with smiles was lit,
And then naked feet did like fairies flit;
And joyously did they quaff the breeze,
And run in and out through the circling trees.

And then, methought, that in God's kind sight,
Those outcasts of earth might be gems of light;
That, in his pure home of peace and love,
Blest abodes for them might be waiting above;
And those I now pitied,as cherubs, rest
In the innermost shrine of a Father's breast.

And I blest the love that gave them bliss,
From the innocent sport of an hour like this;
For of all that gay and happy throng,
That had passed me on my path along,
None filled my heart with thoughts so dear,
Of His care, as the three little outcasts there.