 | [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet |  |
164
LINES
On the death of an infant
Child of the brief but cloudless day!
O! who can mourn e'en now,
That time hath had no power to lay
Its shadows on thy brow!
Thou'rt beautiful in death—no trace
By care's dark pencil writ,
E'er passed upon that quiet face—
No crime hath darkened it;
But free thou art, as at thy birth,
From all the thousand stains of earth.
O! who can mourn e'en now,
That time hath had no power to lay
Its shadows on thy brow!
Thou'rt beautiful in death—no trace
By care's dark pencil writ,
E'er passed upon that quiet face—
No crime hath darkened it;
But free thou art, as at thy birth,
From all the thousand stains of earth.
[OMITTED]
Weep not—for why should tears be shed
That Heaven hath called him hence?
The rugged path that man must tread,
Life cannot recompense.
And joyous now can memory bear
The image of thy child—
Its loveliness embodied, there,
Stainless and undefiled;
Nor mourn the gift recalled to Heaven,
As pure as when to thee 'twas given.
That Heaven hath called him hence?
The rugged path that man must tread,
Life cannot recompense.
165
The image of thy child—
Its loveliness embodied, there,
Stainless and undefiled;
Nor mourn the gift recalled to Heaven,
As pure as when to thee 'twas given.
Stanzas 1 and 5 Haverhill Gazette, December 8, 1827
| [Poems by Whittier in] A Study of Whittier's Apprenticeship as a Poet | |