A Child’s Dream
When little butterflies flutter’d and play’d, When little birds prattled on tree-tops and made Their nests to fill up, where revelations soar’d, I wander’d with Nature in dreams unexplored.
Through meadows, where daisies in clusters bloom’d, Past hedges, where violets obstinately gloom’d, With sunbeams and shadows in jocund light, Came whispers of spring in the luminous night.
The rivers all mirrored the sun in their glass, The riverbeds swam with bright petals, alas! As we danced in the twilight, the flowers all sway’d, To the music of heart’s secrets call’d and displayed.
In the breathless woodland, I saw leafy isle, Where Nature, in kind, breath’d her patient smile, Capturing youth in the cradle of days, And I fell for a while in that joyous blaze.
- John Everett Millais