| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | The Children Band | | By Sir Aubrey de Vere (1788–1846) |
| | | 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! | | | | |
|
|
