'How many pounds does the baby weigh - <br />Baby who came but a month ago? <br />How many pounds from the crowning curl <br />To the rosy point of the restless toe?' <br /> <br />Grandfather ties the 'kerchief knot, <br />Tenderly guides the swinging weight, <br />And carefully over his glasses peers <br />To read the record, 'only eight.' <br /> <br />Softly the echo goes around: <br />The father laughs at the tiny girl; <br />The fair young mother sings the words, <br />While grandmother smooths the golden curl. <br /> <br />And stooping above the precious thing, <br />Nestles a kiss within a prayer, <br />Murmuring softly 'Little one, <br />Grandfather did not weigh you fair.' <br /> <br />Nobody weighed the baby's smile, <br />Or the love that came with the helpless one; <br />Nobody weighed the threads of care, <br />From which a woman's life is spun. <br /> <br />No index tells the mighty worth <br />Of a little baby's quiet breath - <br />A soft, unceasing metronome, <br />Patient and faithful until death. <br /> <br />Nobody weighed the baby's soul, <br />For here on earth no weights there be <br />That could avail; God only knows <br />Its value in eternity. <br /> <br />Only eight pounds to hold a soul <br />That seeks no angel's silver wing, <br />But shrines it in this human guise, <br />Within so frail and small a thing! <br /> <br />Oh, mother! laugh your merry note, <br />Be gay and glad, but don't forget <br />From baby's eyes looks out a soul <br />That claims a home in Eden yet.<br /><br />Ethel Lynn Eliot Beers<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/weighing-the-baby/
