The Child and the Hind
Come, maids and matrons, to caress
Wiesbaden's gentle hind;
And, smiling, deck its glossy neck
With forest flowers entwined.
'Twas after church - on Ascension day -
When organs ceased to sound,
Wiesbaden's people crowded gay
The deer park's pleasant ground.
Here came a twelve years' married pair -
And with them wander'd free
Seven sons and daughters, blooming fair,
A gladsome sight to see!
Their Wilhelm, little innocent,
The youngest of the seven,
Was beautiful as painters' paint -
The cherubim of heaven.
By turns he gave his hand, so dear,
To parent, sister, brother,
And each, that he was safe and near,
Confided in the other.
But Wilhelm loved the field-flowers bright,
With love beyond all measure;
And cull'd them with as keen delight
As misers gather treasure.
Unnoticed, he contrived to glide
Adown a greenwood alley,
By lilies lured - that grew beside
A streamlet in the valley;
And there, where under beech and birch
The rivulet meander'd,
He stray'd, till neither shout nor search,
Could track where he had wander'd.
Still louder, with increasing dread,
They call'd his darling name:
But 'twas like speaking to the dead -
An echo only came.
Hours pass'd till evening's beetle roams,
And blackbird's songs begin;
Then all went back to happy homes,
Save Wilhelm's kith and kin.
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poem by Thomas Campbell
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