A name to hear in soft accord
    Of leaves by light winds overrun,
Or read, upon the greening sward
    Of May, in shade and sun.

The name my infant ear first heard
    Breathed softly with a mother’s kiss;
His mother’s own, no tenderer word
    My father spake than this.

No child have I to bear it on;
    Be thou its keeper; let it take
From gifts well used and duty done
    New beauty for thy sake.

The fair ideals that outran
    My halting footsteps seek and find—
The flawless symmetry of man,
    The poise of heart and mind.

Stand firmly where I felt the sway
    Of every wing that fancy flew,
See clearly where I groped my way,
    Nor real from seeming knew.

And wisely choose, and bravely hold
    Thy faith unswerved by cross or crown,
Like the stout Huguenot of old
    Whose name to thee comes down.

As Marot’s songs made glad the heart
    Of that lone exile, haply mine
May in life’s heavy hours impart
    Some strength and hope to thine.

Yet when did Age transfer to Youth
    The hard-gained lessons of its day?
Each lip must learn the taste of truth,
    Each foot must feel its way.

We cannot hold the hands of choice
    That touch or shun life’s fateful keys;
The whisper of the inward voice
    Is more than homilies.

Dear boy! for whom the flowers are born,
    Stars shine, and happy song-birds sing,
What can my evening give to morn,
    My winter to thy spring!

A life not void of pure intent,
    With small desert of praise or blame,
The love I felt, the good I meant,
    I leave thee with my name.