Chapter I: The Child

Give me a new soul, God of all things free,
Help me to dream the golden dream of youth,
Till gazing deep into the eyes of Truth
The dream returns in life that is to be.

With Thee I breathe a fire most strange and bright,
Rosy as dawning, jubilant as day,
A light eternal on the time-worn way,
A morning note to stir the ag├Ęd night.

To sing the song of flower-time again
It is to deck with joy an ancient door,--
A fresh rose, cosmic of each rose before,
To link with wonder in the endless chain.

And as they play mid stars or 'neath the sun
I ask a song for children everywhere,
A gleam that dances with them unaware
Since God, and they, and joy, are wholly One.