511. A Child

Mary Lamb. 1765-1847


A CHILD 's a plaything for an hour;
  Its pretty tricks we try
For that or for a longer space--
  Then tire, and lay it by.

But I knew one that to itself
  All seasons could control;
That would have mock'd the sense of pain
  Out of a grieved soul.

Thou straggler into loving arms,
  Young climber-up of knees,
When I forget thy thousand ways
  Then life and all shall cease.

The Oxford Book of English Verse, HTML edition