E. M. J. Poem by Maria Frances Cecilia Cowper

What is he thinking lying there so still,
This tiny piece of soft humanity,
This little unknown stranger in our midst ?
Is he astonished at the gift of life.
That brings him into such a strange, new world,
With all its unfamiliar sights and sounds ?
What has this new-found life in store for him,
What joys and sorrows in the years to come ?
I bid you welcome, little new-comer
To this new life : may it be kind to you,
And give you happiness and loving friends,
Noble achievement, length of prosperous days,
And health and strength, and all your heart's desire
The fulness and the joy of life in youth,
And wealth of pleasant memories for your age.
And since your sky will not be always bright,

And sometimes for the happiest life is hard,
Yours be stout heart and courage to endure
What share of pain the unseen years may bring.
To-day you are so helpless, small and weak,
Unreasoning and speechless and alone.
And we are big and strong and wondrous wise.
But a few years, and you will be a man.
And we shall be decrepit, feeble, old.
And worn with life, and you will feel contempt
And pity for our senile childishness.
And you will still be strong when we are gone,
When we have ceased from living, and have passed,
Perhaps to that far country whence you come.
Or where the silent, never-ending night
Shall bring us quiet and forgetfulness.
What will the world be like when you are old ?
What new things will you know in years to come,
What conquests over earth and sea and air,
Won by a race of men to us unknown,
Men of your age and day ? What new great names
Will be familiar on your lips ? What deeds
Will win your praises in the days to be,
When all that we have striven for to-day
Is but a dying memory ? The world
Grows older, but it does not greatly change.
Men come and go, but charity and love,
Justice and mercy, pity for the weak,
And sympathy that feels another's pain,
Unblemished honour, loyalty and truth,
And hatred of all cruelty and wrong ;
These shall endure ; though men grow old and die,
These die not, neither are they dimmed by age,
But are forever beautiful and fresh,
And are of price to-morrow as to-day ;
Therefore keep these things always in thy heart.