 | The poetical works of James Montgomery |  |
ON THE ROYAL INFANT,
Still-born, Nov. 5. 1817.
A throne on earth awaited thee;
A nation long'd to see thy face,
Heir to a glorious ancestry,
And father of a mightier race.
A nation long'd to see thy face,
Heir to a glorious ancestry,
And father of a mightier race.
Vain hope! that throne thou must not fill;
Thee may that nation ne'er behold;
Thine ancient house is heirless still,
Thy line shall never be unroll'd.
Thee may that nation ne'er behold;
Thine ancient house is heirless still,
Thy line shall never be unroll'd.
Yet, while we mourn thy flight from earth,
Thine was a destiny sublime;
Caught up to Paradise in birth,
Pluck'd by Eternity from Time.
Thine was a destiny sublime;
Caught up to Paradise in birth,
Pluck'd by Eternity from Time.
The Mother knew her offspring dead:
Oh! was it grief, or was it love,
That broke her heart?—The spirit fled
To seek her nameless child above.
Oh! was it grief, or was it love,
That broke her heart?—The spirit fled
To seek her nameless child above.
Led by his natal star, she trod
The path to heaven:—the meeting there,
And how they stood before their God,
The day of judgment shall declare.
The path to heaven:—the meeting there,
And how they stood before their God,
The day of judgment shall declare.
| The poetical works of James Montgomery | |