| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IX. A New-born Child and Its Parent | | By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) |
| | (To a friend who asked the author how he felt when the nurse first presented his infant to him) |
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CHARLES! my slow heart was only sad, when first | |
| I scanned that face of feeble infancy; | |
| For dimly on my thoughtful spirit burst | |
| All I had been, and all my child might be! | |
| But when I saw it on its mother’s arm, | 5 |
| And hanging at her bosom (she the while | |
| Bent o’er its features with a tearful smile) | |
| Then I was thrilled and melted, and most warm | |
| Impressed a father’s kiss; and all beguiled | |
| Of dark remembrance and presageful fear, | 10 |
| I seemed to see an angel form appear— | |
| ’T was even thine, beloved woman mild! | |
| So for the mother’s sake the child was dear, | |
| And dearer was the mother for the child. | | | |
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