To a Child With a Copy of the Author's "Hansel and Gretel" by Norreys Jephson O'Conor

Hansel and Gretel by Kay Nielsen

To a Child
With a Copy of the Author's "Hansel and Gretel"
by Norreys Jephson O'Conor

Here, Nancy, let me take your hand,
And lead you back to Fairyland,
In this famed tale of long ago,
Told often in the sunset glow
By mothers, lest their children roam
In the dark forest, far from home.
This lesson learn: that mothers know
Where lurks, perchance, a hidden foe;
And though you may not understand
The reason in each kind command,
It is to keep you from the fear
That terrified the children here.
Learn, too, how God's own angels keep
Your ways by day, your dreams, asleep.

from Beside the Blackwater (1915) by Norreys Jephson O'Conor