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To a Child
by Sophie Jewett

The leaves talked in the twilight, dear
Hearken the tale they told
How in some far-off place and year
Before the world grew old

I was a dreaming forest tree
You were a wild, sweet bird
Who sheltered at the heart of me
Because the north wind stirred

How, when the chiding gale was still
When peace fell soft on fear
You stayed one golden hour to fill
My dream with singing, dear

To-night the self-same songs
are sung,
the first green forest heard
My heart and the gray world
grow young
To shelter you, my bird

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