DAYBREAK.
When the sunlight peeps in through the curtains at dawn,
His Highness awakes with a smile and a yawn,
And his little fat hands fly up in the air,
Out of whole-souled delight that a new day is there.
He laughs to himself and he churns his pink heels,
He gurgles and chirps at the pleasure he feels,
And he looks with dismay at the big folk near by
Who sleep while the daylight is kissing the sky.
The sight of a sunbeam is thrilling and new;
The big folk are missing it—that will not do!
Awake, oh, good people, awake to the sight!
Come out of your pillows, 'tis no longer night!
See what a wonderful broad streak of gold
Has come through the window! Arise and behold
A slice of the dawn dancing over the floor!
Was ever so glorious a vision before?
But the elders, to whom the awakening of day
Is old as their memories, turn blindly away,
And his Highness is left, with the birds of the trees,
To carol his joy at the new life he sees.
Albert Lee.