When to the garden of untroubled thought <br />I came of late, and saw the open door, <br />And wished again to enter, and explore <br />The sweet, wild ways with stainless bloom inwrought, <br />And bowers of innocence with beauty fraught, <br />It seemed some purer voice must speak before <br />I dared to tread that garden loved of yore, <br />That Eden lost unknown and found unsought. <br /> <br />Then just within the gate I saw a child, -- <br />A stranger-child, yet to my heart most dear; <br />He held his hands to me, and softly smiled <br />With eyes that knew no shade of sin or fear: <br />"Come in," he said, "and play awhile with me;" <br />"I am the little child you used to be."<br /><br />Henry Van Dyke<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-child-in-the-garden/
