TWO rocked his infant cradle as he slept,
⁠And crooned for him their native lullabies.
⁠One gave her sense of beauty to his eyes,
One taught his heart her smiles, the tears she wept.
Each made him love her as the child his home,
⁠And, mother-wise, reclaimed his wandering glance:
⁠Belovèd England and belovèd France,—
Each drew him, though, afar, he could not come.

In his imagination, fleur-de-lis
⁠And English daisy blossomed side by side,
And dreams were his, lost transports to renew.
Half exiled wheresoe'er he chanced to be,
⁠Like migrant birds his thoughts went soaring wide,
Wooed onward by the vision of the True!