Nathaniel Parker Willis,
On Witnessing a Baptism
(1835)
“ Her lips mov'd silently, and tears, fast tears, Stole from beneath her lashes, and upon The forehead of the beautiful child lay soft With the baptismal water. Then I though That, to the eye of God, that mother's tears Would be a deeper covenant, which sin And the temptations of the world, and death, Would leave unbroken, and that she would know In the clear light of heaven, how very strong The prayer which press'd them from her heart had been In leading its young spirit up to God. ”
