Oh, I once had a haunt near a cot where a mother

Daily sat in the shade with her child, and would smother

Its eyelids in kisses, and then in its sleep

Sang dreams in its ear of its manhood, while deep

In a thicket of willows I gazed o'er the brooks

That murmur'd between us and kiss'd them with looks;

But the willows unbosom'd their secret, and never

I return'd to a spot I had startled forever,

Though I oft long'd to know, but could ask it of none,

Was the mother still fair, and how big was her son?