A Blind Child

 

Her baby brother laughed last night,

The blind child asked her mother why;

It was the light that caught his eye.

Would she might laugh to see that light!

 

The presence of a stiffened corse

Is sad enough; but to my mind,

The presence of a child that's blind,

In a green garden, is far worse.

 

She felt my cloth-for worldly place;

She felt my face- If I was good;

My face lost more than half its blood,

For fear her hand would wrongly trace.

 

We're in the garden, where are the bees

And flowers, and birds ,and butterflies;

One greedy fledging runs and cries

For all the food his parent sees!

 

I see them all: flowers of all kind,

The sheep and cattle on the leas;

The houses up the hills, the trees-

But  I am dumb, for she is blind.