Before me now a little picture lies-
A little shadow of a childish face,
Childishly sweet, yet with the dawning grace
Of thought and wisdom on her lips and eyes.
Fair, oval, broad-brow’d face-small, delicate head-
Transparent skin, with blue veins shining through-
All the soft outlines, beautiful and true,
Bring me the echo of the words “God said.”
Made “in our image”-sure ’tis that we see,
God’s likeness, in the fair face of a child,
By the world’s sin and passion undefiled-
Ay, as I look, it seems quite plain to me.
The light wherein the little features shine,
Strange, mystic light, so undefined and faint,
So far too pure for any words to paint-
‘Tis a reflection of the Face divine.
Some day the earthly shadows will be cast
Across that sunshine-it may be to dim
Awhile the visible countenance of Him;
But ’twill be there-the likeness-to the last.
Some day the lucid waters, in which lie
Pictured those glorious lineaments, will be
Stirred up and troubled like a stormy sea;-
But they will yet re-settle-by-and-by.
They will re-settle when the soul is still’d,
Its passions, its wild longings, and its pain;
The pure reflection will shine out again
When earth’s hopes are relinquish’d, unfulfill’d.
They will re-settle in those after-years
When life’s hard lessons have been conned and learn’d;
When this child’s beauty will have all return’d,
More lovely for the trouble and the tears.
They will re-settle in the calm of death,
When the sweet eyes are laid asleep, and when
The heart is hush’d. Truly God’s likeness then-
The mirror clear, unsullied by a breath.
Ah! while I look, and trace each tender line,
I think most of the day when I shall see
The dear face in that perfect purity,
Its mortal features clothed with the divine.
This self-same face, but with the image bright,
Nevermore undefined, and faint, and dim;
This self-same face, yet like the face of Him,
In glory and in beauty infinite.

A few random poems:
- A Child Of War
- Out of Town poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet (X) : In the search of the physical immortality by Neelam Sinha
- The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Ballade Of Queen Anne poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Angel Of Christmas Love Shining Bright
- Lo! Victress on the Peaks. by Walt Whitman
- Hound Voice by William Butler Yeats
- Иосиф Бродский – Бюст Тиберия
- Eye By Eye by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Blow of an ax by Yosa Buson
- Death In The Lounge Bar by Vernon Scannell
- Robert Burns: Address Spoken by Miss Fontenelle on her Benefit Night, December 4th, 1793, at the Theatre, Dumfries.:
- The Cup of Life by Mike Yuan
- Then by Philip Levine
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Like Truthless Dreams, So Are My Joys Expired by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Life by Sir Walter Raleigh
- His Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Her Reply by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Farewell to the Court by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Epitaph by Sir Walter Raleigh
- A Literature Lesson. Sir Patrick Spens in the Eighteenth Century Manner by Sir Walter Raleigh
- A Farewell to False Love by Sir Walter Raleigh
- On Catullus by Walter Savage Landor
- Of Clementina by Walter Savage Landor
- Corinna, from Athens, to Tanagra by Walter Savage Landor
- Ianthe! You are Call’d to Cross the Sea by Walter Savage Landor
- Mother, I cannot mind my Wheel by Walter Savage Landor
- Ianthe by Walter Savage Landor
- Child of a Day by Walter Savage Landor
- Late Leaves by Walter Savage Landor
- One Lovely Name by Walter Savage Landor
- On An Eclipse Of The Moon by Walter Savage Landor
- Mild is the Parting Year by Walter Savage Landor
- I Entreat You, Alfred Tennyson by Walter Savage Landor
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.