| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Sir Aubrey De Vere. 1788–1846 |
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| 602. The Children Band |
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| 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! | |
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