Spring Morning

<h3> <SPAN name="dream"></SPAN> A CHILD'S DREAM<br/> </h3> <p class="illustration"> <ANTIMG src="images/img-008.jpg" alt="Boy and dog" /></p> <p>I had a little dog, and my dog was very small;<br/> He licked me in the face, and he answered to my call;<br/> Of all the treasures that were mine, I loved him most of all.<br/></p> <p>His nose was fresh as morning dew and blacker than the night;<br/> I thought that it could even snuff the shadows and the light;<br/> And his tail he held it bravely, like a banner in a fight.<br/></p> <p>His body covered thick with hair was very good to smell;<br/> His little stomach underneath was pink as any shell;<br/> And I loved him and honoured him, more than words can tell.<br/></p> <p>We ran out in the morning, both of us, to play,<br/> Up and down across the fields for all the sunny day;<br/> But he ran so swiftly&mdash;he ran right away.<br/></p> <p>I looked for him, I called for him, entreatingly. Alas,<br/> The dandelions could not speak, though they had seen him pass,<br/> And nowhere was his waving tail among the waving grass.<br/></p> <p>I called him in a thousand ways and yet he did not come;<br/> The pathways and the hedges were horrible and dumb.<br/> I prayed to God who never heard. My desperate soul grew numb.<br/></p> <p>The sun sank low. I ran; I prayed: "If God has not the power<br/> To find him, let me die. I cannot bear another hour."<br/> When suddenly I came upon a great yellow flower.<br/></p> <p>And all among its petals, such was Heaven's grace,<br/> In that golden hour, in that golden place,<br/> All among its petals, was his hairy face.<br/></p> <p><br/><br/><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />