Poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Sleeping Child

How innocent, how beautiful thy sleep!
Sweet one, 'tis peace and joy to gaze on thee!
Thy summer sports, thy cloudless gaiety,
Are hush'd in slumber; but there lingers still
A smile upon thy lips, like the young day,
Flinging its sunlight o'er the half-blown rose;
Thy laughing eyes are clos'd, while the dark lash
Rests on thy dimpled cheek, where health has shed
Its liveliest carnation; unconfin'd,
Like golden clusters, shadowing thy face,
Thy chesnut curls twine round thy little arm,

Half hidden by the violets, which breathe
Their fragrance o'er thy head; thy snowy brow
Is clear and open as a shadeless sky:
There are no records there to tell of griefs,
That came like blights in spring, or winter storms
Of tortured feelings, withering cares and joys,
Whose end was bitterness; but here are found
Pure innocence and love, and happiness.

1. Absence (Oh! never can we feel how dear)
2. Amelioration and the Future, Man's Noble Tasks
3. The Reply of the Fountain
4. Ornaments
5. Sketch of a Painting of Santa Malvidera, Escaped Miraculously from Shipwreck

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