Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3464, 31 January 1880, Page 1

Select Poetry.

THE PATTER OF LITTLE FEET.

Up with the .sun in the morning, Away to the garden he hies, To see if the sleepy blossoms j Have begun to open their eyes/ Rwming a race with the wind, | With a step as light^and fleet, Under-my window I hear The patter of little feet. Now to the brook he wanders, In swift and noiseless flight, / Splashing the sparkling ripples Like a fairy water-sprite. No sand under fabled river Has gleams like his golden hair, No pearl sea-shell is fairer Than his slender ancles bare, Nor the rosiest stein of coral That blushes in. ocean's bed Is sweet as the flush that follows Our darling's airy tread. From a broad window my neighbor Looks down on our little cot, And watches the "poor man's blesaiog/* I cannot envy his lot. He has pictures, books, and music, Bright fountains and noble trees, Flowers that blossom in rdses, Birds from beyond the seas; But never does childish laughter His homeward footsteps greet, His stately halls ne?er echo To the tread of innocent feet. This child is onr " speaking picture," A birdling that chatters and sings, Sometimes a sleeping cherub— (Our other one has wings) .• His heart is a charmed casket, Fnll of all that's cunning and sweet, And no harp-strings hold such music As follows his twinkling feet. When the glory of sunset opens The highway by angels trod, And seems to unbar the city Whose builder and maker is God, Close, to the crystal portal, I see by the gates of pearl, The eyes of our other angel— A twinborn little girl. " . And Task to be taught and directed To guide his footsteps aright, So that I be accounted worthy To walk in sandals of light, , And hear amid songs of welcome From messengers trusty and fleet, On the starry floor of heaven The patter of little feet. —Saturday Advertiser. - .