IN the fair city of Florence, on a time, Were gather'd once, brought from a distant clime, Nature's wild denizens. It chanced one day, Escaped, a lion roam'd the public way. Amid the terror and disorder spread, A frantic mother with her infant fled. Oh, how can words that mother's anguish tell, When from her arms the precious burden fell! At the same instant, horrified, she saw Her child beneath the monster's hungry jaw! Aghast and motionless, as marble fixed, She stood. 'Twas but a moment thus, the next By fear o'ercome, by fear restor'd to sense, -- O charm of love! frenzy sublime, intense! -- Upon her knees she sank -- "My child, my child -- Give me my boy!" she cried in accents wild. Was it a miracle? the piteous cries Moved the fierce beast: it turn'd on her its eyes, Seem'd to divine a mother's heart implor'd That her dear babe might be to her restor'd; Rais'd tenderly the infant from the street And laid the darling treasure at her feet; Look'd on the child, now smiling and content, Then slowly on its way it quietly went. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MAN CHILD IS BORN (1809) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE SPELLIN' BEE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR TELLING THE BEES by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER ANECDOTE FOR FATHERS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH GHOST STARS by MADELEINE AARON COMOS by ADRA CAROLINE BATCHELDER |