THE BABY. WHERE did you come from, baby dear? Out of the everywhere into the here. Where did you get your eyes so blue? Out of the sky as I came through. What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? Some of the starry spikes left in. Where did you get that little tear? I found it waiting when I got here. What makes your forehead so smooth and high? A soft hand stroked it as I went by. What makes your cheek like a warm white rose ? Something better than any one knows. Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss! Three angels gave me at once a kiss. Where did you get that pearly ear? God spoke, and it came out to hear. Where did you get those arins and hands? Love made itself into hooks and bands. Feet, whence did you come, you darling things? From the same box as the cherubs' wings. How did they all just come to be you? God thought about me, and so I grew. But how did you come to us, you dear? God thought of you, and so I am here. GEORGE MACDONALD, THE BABY. ON parents' knees, a naked, new-born child, From the Sanscrit of CALIDASA, by SILENT BABY. THE baby sits in her cradle, Watching the world go round, Enwrapt in a mystical silence, Amid all the tumult of sound. She must be akin to the flowers, For no one has heard A whispered word From this silent baby of ours. Wondering, she looks at the children, Has yet been heard Of unspoken knowledge a store, Of the bees and the birds and the flowers! Has ever been heard THE BABIE. NAE shoon to hide her tiny taes, Her simple dress o' sprinkled pink, Her double, dimplit chin, Her puckered lips an' baumy mou', With na ane tooth within. Her een sae like her mither's een, Twa gentle, liquid things; Her face is like an angel's face, We're glad she has nae wings. She is the buddin' o' our luve, A giftie God gied us : We maun na luve the gift owre weel, 'T wad be nae blessing thus. We still maun lo'e the Giver mair, An' sae she 'll lead us up to Him, "THE HOUSEHOLD SOVEREIGN." FROM "THE HANGING OF THE CRANE." SEATED I see the two again, O, Baby, dainty Baby Bell, So full of meaning, pure and bright Was love so lovely born: And now the orchards, which were white The grapes hung purpling in the grange; Her lissome form more perfect grew, And in her features we could trace, Her angel-nature ripened too : We thought her lovely when she came, God's hand had taken away the seal That held the portals of her speech ; And oft she said a few strange words Whose meaning lay beyond our reach. She never was a child to us, We never held her being's key; We could not teach her holy things: She was Christ's self in purity. It came upon us by degrees, The knowledge that our God had sent We shuddered with unlanguaged pain, Our hearts are broken, Baby Bell! At last he came, the messenger, The messenger from unseen lands: And what did dainty Baby Bell? She only crossed ner little hands, No baby in the house, I know, No finger-marks are on the panes, No tender kisses to be given; No nicknames, "Dove" and "Mouse ; No merry frolics after tea, No baby in the house! -- CLARA G. DOLLIVER WHAT DOES LITTLE BIRDIE SAY? FROM "SEA DREAMS. WHAT does little birdie say What does little baby say, ALFRED TENNYSON. |