A wondrous venture it must be,

My trembling little one, for thee

  To trust thy feeble feet

Upon this hard old earth of ours;

And thou hast summoned all thy powers

The mighty task to meet.

 

There’s caution in that look of thine

And in the hand that clings to mine,

  With clasp so keen and small;

Yet thou wilt learn to jump and run

Through the green meadows in the sun,

  And never fear a fall.

 

These are thy faint first steps in life,

And though they seem with danger rife,

 The peril is not there.

But in thine after goings, child !-

For oh this world is wide and wild,

  And much more false than fair!

 

I cannot tell what stranger shore

These timid feet may journey o’er-

  What desert bleak and broad;

But I can truly hope and pray

That thou may’st walk in wisdom’s way,

  And humbly with thy God.