ELEGY
Reading edition
ON THE DEATH OF A LITTLE CHILD.
He came: As red-lipt rosebuds in the Summer come: A tiny angel, let from Heav'n to roam, With laughing love to clothe our childless home The God-sent cherub came.
He lived One little hour; What bliss was in the space! Our lives that day were fringed with fresher grace And in the casket of our darling's face What honeyed hopes were hived.
He droopt: And o'er our souls a mighty sorrow swept, With many fears the night-long watch we kept, Tearful and sad: Yet even as we wept Our star-faced beauty droopt.
He died: And darksome grew our life's bright morning sun. Gloomy the day so radiantly begun. What joy, what joy, without our darling one, Is all the world beside?
Tis past: The perfumed rosebud of our life is dead: Helpless we bend, and mourn the cherub fled, Even as the bruised reed bends low its head Before the cruel blast.