Read "To a Babe Smiling in her Sleep" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Tell me, did the angels greet thee?
Greet my darling when she smiled?
Did they whisper, softly, gently, / Pleasant thoughts unto my child?
Did they whisper, 'mid thy dreaming, / Thoughts that made thy spirit glad?
Of the joy-lighted city, / Where the heart is never sad?
Did they tell thee of the fountains, / Clear as crystal, fair as light, / And the glory-brightened country, / Never shaded by a night?
Of life's pure, pellucid river, / And the tree whose leaves do yield / Healing for the wounded nations -- / Nations smitten, bruised and peeled?
Of the city, ruby-founded, / Built on gems of flashing light, / Paling all earth's lustrous jewels, / And the gates of pearly white?
Darling, when life's shadows deepen / Round thy prison-house of clay, / May the footsteps of God's angels / Ever linger round thy way.