Thus living on through such a length of years,
The Shepherd,if he loved himself,must needs
Have loved his Helpmate;but to Michael’s heart
This son of his old age was yet more dear—
Less from instinctive tenderness,the same
Fond spirit that blindly works in the blood of all—
Than that a child,more than all other gifts
That earth can offer to declining man,
Brings hope with it,and forward-looking thoughts,
And stirrings of inquietude,when they
By tendency of nature needs must fail.
Exceeding was the love he bare to him,
His heart and his heart’s joy! For oftentimes
Old Michael,while he was a babe in arms,
Had done him female service,not alone
For pastime and delight,as is the use
Of fathers,but with patient mind enforced
To acts of tenderness;and he had rocked
His cradle,as with a woman’s gentle hand.
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