THE CHILD’S BEST FRIEND.
Nay, start not so, nor turn thy head away,
Fair infant, from thy comrade’s boisterous play;
Thy fond and faithful friend! thy guard by night.
Thy toy by day! thy playmate and delight!
Oh! may’st thou never—through the changeful years
Which pass thou must in this dark vale of tears—
Oh! may’st thou never find a friend less true,
Whose love nor time nor distance may subdue—
Nor cruelty estrange, nor falsehood shake!
Who, treat him as thou may’st, for thy dear sake
Fearless will leap where swiftest currents flow—
Fearless will strive against the fiercest foe!
Will bear all worst extremes of earthly ill,
Famine, and weariness, and wintry chill!
Who, though thine all, on this side heaven, were lost—
Thy friends proved false, thy fortunes ocean-tost—
Thy nearest kinsmen coldly turned aside—
Would love thy want, even as he loved thy pride—
Would lick thy hand, though it had nought to give,
Nor leave thy poverty with kings to live! Q.