NURSERY RHYMES.

A BABY'S FEET.

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.

.

A BABY's feet, like sea-shells pink,

Might tempt, should heaven see meet, An angel's lips to kiss, we think,

A baby's feet. Like rose-hued sea-flowers toward the heat

They stretch and spread and wink. Their ten soft buds that part and meet. No flower-bells that expand and shrink

Gleam half so heavenly sweet,
As shine on life's untrodden brink, —

A baby's feet.

A BABY'S HANDS.

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.

A BABY's hands, like rosebuds furled,

Whence yet no leaf expands, Ope if you touch, though close upcurled,

A baby's hands.

Then, even as warriors grip their brands

When battle’s bolt is hurled,
They close, clenched hard like tightening bands.
No rosebuds yet by dawn impearled

Match, even in loveliest lands,
The sweetest flowers in all the world,

A baby's hands.

NAE SHOON.

ANONYMOUS.

NAE shoon to hide her tiny tae,

Nae stocking on her feet;
Her supple ankles white as snaw,

Like early blossoms sweet.
Her simple dress of sprinkled pink,

Her double, dimpled chin,
Her puckered lips and balmy mou',

Wi' nae one tooth between.

Her e'en sae like her mither's e'en,

Twa gentle, liquid things;
Her face is like an angel's face,

We're glad she has nae wings.
She is the budding of our love,

A giftie God's gied us;
We munna love the gift o'erweel,

'Twad be nae blessing thus.

What can nestlings do

In the nightly dew? Sleep beneath their mother's wing,

Till day breaks anew.