Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Charles Lamb (1775–1834)

Parental Recollections

[From Poetry for Children, by Charles and Mary Lamb]

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 mocked 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.