Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Sir Aubrey De Vere. 17881846602. The Children Band
ALL holy influences dwell within | |
The breast of Childhood: instincts fresh from God | |
Inspire it, ere the heart beneath the rod | |
Of grief hath bled, or caught the plague of sin. | |
How mighty was that fervour which could win | 5 |
Its way to infant souls!—and was the sod | |
Of Palestine by infant Croises trod? | |
Like Joseph went they forth, or Benjamin, | |
In all their touching beauty to redeem? | |
And did their soft lips kiss the Sepulchre? | 10 |
Alas! the lovely pageant as a dream | |
Faded! They sank not through ignoble fear; | |
They felt not Moslem steel. By mountain, stream, | |
In sands, in fens, they died—no mother near! |