Poem by Alaric Alexander Watts

To a Child Blowing Bubbles

Visions of childhood! oft have ye beguiled
Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs:
Ah! that once more I were a careless child! ~ COLERIDGE.

Thrice happy Babe! what radiant dreams are thine,
As thus thou bidd'st thine air-born bubbles soar;∔
Who would not Wisdom's choicest gifts resign
To be, like thee, a careless child, once more.
To share thy simple sports, and sinless glee;
Thy breathless wonder, thy unfeigned delight,
As, one by one, those sun-touched glories flee,
In swift succession, from thy straining sight!
To feel a power within himself to make,
Like thee, a rainbow wheresoe'er he goes;
To dream of sunshine, and like thee to 'wake
To brighter visions, from his charmed repose.
Who would not give his all of worldly lore,∔
The hard-earned fruits of many a toil and care,∔
Might he but thus the faded past restore,
Thy guileless thoughts and blissful ignorance share.
Yet Life hath bubbles too, that soothe a while
The sterner dreams of man's maturer years;
Love∔Friendship∔Fortune∔Fame∔by turns beguile,
But melt, 'neath Truth's Ithuriel-touch, to tears.
Thrice happy Child! a brighter lot is thine;
(What new illusion e'er can match the first?)
We mourn to see each cherished hope decline;
Thy mirth is loudest when thy bubbles burst.

1. Napoleon's Dream
2. Thou Hast Flashed on My Sight
3. I've Roamed the Wide World over
4. Woman's Love
5. The Siege of Belgrade

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