THE FIRST TOOTHTHEFIRST TOOTH
THE FIRST TOOTHTHEFIRST TOOTH
THEFIRST TOOTH
I
SISTER
Throughthe house what busy joyJust because the infant boyHas a tiny tooth to show!I have got a double row,All as white and all as small;Yet no one cares for mine at all.He can say but half a word,Yet that single sound’s preferr’dTo all the words that I can sayIn the longest summer day.He cannot walk; yet if he putWith mimic motion out his foot,As if he thought he were advancing,It’s prized more than my best dancing.
Throughthe house what busy joyJust because the infant boyHas a tiny tooth to show!I have got a double row,All as white and all as small;Yet no one cares for mine at all.He can say but half a word,Yet that single sound’s preferr’dTo all the words that I can sayIn the longest summer day.He cannot walk; yet if he putWith mimic motion out his foot,As if he thought he were advancing,It’s prized more than my best dancing.
Throughthe house what busy joyJust because the infant boyHas a tiny tooth to show!I have got a double row,All as white and all as small;Yet no one cares for mine at all.He can say but half a word,Yet that single sound’s preferr’dTo all the words that I can sayIn the longest summer day.He cannot walk; yet if he putWith mimic motion out his foot,As if he thought he were advancing,It’s prized more than my best dancing.
Throughthe house what busy joy
Just because the infant boy
Has a tiny tooth to show!
I have got a double row,
All as white and all as small;
Yet no one cares for mine at all.
He can say but half a word,
Yet that single sound’s preferr’d
To all the words that I can say
In the longest summer day.
He cannot walk; yet if he put
With mimic motion out his foot,
As if he thought he were advancing,
It’s prized more than my best dancing.
BROTHER
Sister, I know you jesting are,Yet O! of jealousy beware.
Sister, I know you jesting are,Yet O! of jealousy beware.
Sister, I know you jesting are,Yet O! of jealousy beware.
Sister, I know you jesting are,
Yet O! of jealousy beware.
(Illustration)
If the smallest seed should beIn your mind, of jealousy,It will spring and it will shootTill it bear the baneful fruit.I remember you, my dear,Young as is this infant here.There was not a tooth of thoseYour pretty even ivory rows,But as anxiously was watch’dTill it burst its shell new-hatch’dAs if it a phoenix were,Or some other wonder rare.So when you began to walk—So when you began to talk—As now, the same encomiums pass’d’Tis not fitting this should lastLonger than our infant days;A child is fed with milk and praise.
If the smallest seed should beIn your mind, of jealousy,It will spring and it will shootTill it bear the baneful fruit.I remember you, my dear,Young as is this infant here.There was not a tooth of thoseYour pretty even ivory rows,But as anxiously was watch’dTill it burst its shell new-hatch’dAs if it a phoenix were,Or some other wonder rare.So when you began to walk—So when you began to talk—As now, the same encomiums pass’d’Tis not fitting this should lastLonger than our infant days;A child is fed with milk and praise.
If the smallest seed should beIn your mind, of jealousy,It will spring and it will shootTill it bear the baneful fruit.I remember you, my dear,Young as is this infant here.There was not a tooth of thoseYour pretty even ivory rows,But as anxiously was watch’dTill it burst its shell new-hatch’dAs if it a phoenix were,Or some other wonder rare.So when you began to walk—So when you began to talk—As now, the same encomiums pass’d’Tis not fitting this should lastLonger than our infant days;A child is fed with milk and praise.
If the smallest seed should be
In your mind, of jealousy,
It will spring and it will shoot
Till it bear the baneful fruit.
I remember you, my dear,
Young as is this infant here.
There was not a tooth of those
Your pretty even ivory rows,
But as anxiously was watch’d
Till it burst its shell new-hatch’d
As if it a phoenix were,
Or some other wonder rare.
So when you began to walk—
So when you began to talk—
As now, the same encomiums pass’d
’Tis not fitting this should last
Longer than our infant days;
A child is fed with milk and praise.
(Illustration)