LITTLE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 133, 19 November 1875, Page 6

LITTLE CHILDREN.

BY WILFRID HENNELIj.

Little children half angelic ! To our older eyes ye seem Like a keepsake or a relic Of our childhood's vanished dream, When, like you, we sat and babblsd By the softly flowing stream. Little children ! your to-morrow Seems c'en brighter than your now; Buried are tlie seeds of sorrow That will one day round you grow, Robbing from the cheek its color, Streaking -with deep lines the brow. Little children, soft and shining ! Guardian angels o'er you bend, May they, ne'er their charge resigning, Guide you to the journey's end, There to hand you safely over To His charge whose flock they tend. Little children round us clinging ! Never yet hath subtle doubt Come, amid Faith's gentle singing, With a whisper or a shout, Till you closed your ears in anguish, Truth and falsehood shutting out. ' Little children ! strong temptation, Making war against your faith, Hath not taken yet its station On your daily, hourly path, There to dog your steps for ever, Till kind Jesus sends you death. Little children ! white and glistening, Nothing of their glory gone, Are the robes which, at yotir christening. All unconscious we put on : Where are ours ? We dare not answer — Though they once as brightly shone. Little children, come and kiss me, Ere upon my way I go ; If at last in Heaven you miss me — Christ avert it ! you -will know That I f died to learn the lesson It is yours to teach and show.